Maskless protesters, stop harassing Fresno businesses over made-up rights violations

As if Fresno retailers did not have enough struggles to deal with in the COVID pandemic, add one more to the list: maskless people protesting the requirement to wear masks to enter stores.

That is what happened recently at the front of the Trader Joe’s store in north Fresno off Friant Road.

A sizable group of demonstrators marched to the front of the business, and while there they managed to block customers from entering for a time. Fresno police responded to the noisy protest that was apparently led by a burly bearded man.

That provocateur positioned himself just outside the front doors and next to a Trader Joe’s employee, who had a mask on, and the maskless man shouted out a list of justifications on why his people should be allowed to enter the store mask-free.

He alleged civil rights and federal government code violations, though none of that was apparent or true.

For one thing, no one’s civil rights are violated when a business treats all customers the same, as Trader Joe’s is doing: All customers must wear masks to enter. There simply is no discrimination.

The group’s real ire should be directed at Gov. Gavin Newsom and county health officers who are trying to get Californians to do public-health basics in this pandemic, like mask wearing.

But this misguided group apparently finds it easier to attack the little guy, i.e. the neighborhood store, even if it is corporately owned.

The news spread nationwide, and similar demonstrations have since followed at retailers in Southern California.

Appealing to patriotism and calling themselves patriots, as members of the Fresno group did, makes clear their obvious misuse of the words. If they were really all that concerned with freedoms and rights, they would uphold a business’s right to freely operate as it sees fit. Rather than patriots, these anti-maskers are authoritarian and have more in common with fascists than those who founded America.

They have every right to protest, but not in a way that blocks a store entrance and keeps customers out. Take it to the public sidewalk.

And if these demonstrators really want the pandemic to end as quickly as possible, they should help by wearing face masks and reducing the spread of infection. Few of the protesters wore masks during their stunt.

Protest and rights

The demonstration came at a time when COVID is raging across Fresno County and the entire state. California, sadly, has become the nation’s hot spot for infections, and health officials believe that is because too many people did not wear masks and engaged in large gatherings at Thanksgiving. And it will get worse: the Christmas-New Year’s surge has yet to hit.

Hospitals throughout the state, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, are out of beds in emergency rooms. Paramedics in Los Angeles County are being directed to only give ambulance rides to patients who will have a good chance of surviving their emergency.

These situations are unthinkable. By all measures, this is the worst health emergency ever experienced by the Californians now living.

When funeral homes throughout the state cannot contain any more dead people, it is pretty obvious how grim the situation is in California.

The noisy demonstrators want to pretend like nothing has changed since last March. They need to get a grip on reality. Over 2 million Californians have tested positive for COVID; 26,000 have died. Nationally, deaths are above 350,000. By comparison, nearly 3,000 people died in 9-11.

Protesters, stop harassing local businesses. Instead, write letters to the governor and local elected officials to complain about your rights being “violated.”

But do all of that with your mask on in public. Better yet, stay home, away from the rest of us. That is the best guarantee of everyone’s safety.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 11:36 AM.