For four decades, Project 21 ambassador Randy Thomas ran a South Los Angeles trucking firm, servicing the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach until California environmental regulations put him out of business.
As documented in a 2009 Los Angeles Business Journal article, the state’s Clean Trucks Program sought to eliminate old polluting trucks from the ports. In doing so, it eliminated hard-working small operators like Randy:
…Thomas’ business grew from one truck he drove to a thriving little firm with 15 drivers. He put his three children through college – the first generation in his family to go. He was starting to look forward to retiring. He planned to leave his business to his family.
Instead, the 60-year-old owner of Randy Thomas Trucking is preparing to close his business about Christmas. The reason: He’s unable to purchase new trucks to comply with port regulations taking effect in January.
“This is not how I envisioned ever going into retirement,” said Thomas, a burly 6-foot-4-inch man who was moved to tears when he talked about how he now can’t leave much for his family. “I feel like I’m seeing the death of the American dream; my American dream.”
The article also tells the story of how Randy first became an entrepreneur and successful small business owner:
He entered the trucking industry in his late teens, driving for Cal Cartage in the late 1960s. When he noticed that truckers, mainly white, did not feel comfortable delivering to South Los Angeles, Thomas decided to buy a 1967 Ford big rig for $8,000, and he started his own business at age 21.
He and a few other friends in his South L.A. neighborhood had sprung up in the early 1970s to start a cluster of black trucking firms that hired local young men who were just starting to face pressure to join gangs.
“We were just some young black kids trying to do something with our lives,” Thomas said. “We were hauling before containers started and when there were just three terminals at the ports. It has been amazing to see this whole area and the ports grow as we grew up.”
Thomas soon expanded from a one-man show to a trucking firm. As trade boomed at the ports, peaking in 2006, Thomas’ firm grew to where he contracted with 15 drivers and he owned four trucks.
Since 2016, Randy has been a TSA-approved extreme critical courier, picking up and delivering time-sensitive materials such as body parts and emergency aircraft parts. He reflects on this career diversion:
This has proven to be a safe haven for me and my family. However, what kind of legacy could I have left for my family if I had just been left alone to continue to operate my own business instead of becoming prey to a sweetheart agreement between the Teamsters and the government administration??? This is not the America I grew up in.