January 6, 2021: A Day That Will Never Be Forgotten
A gut-wrenching day in history. When I don't know what else to do, I write. I woke up yesterday morning beaming with hope and excitement. I spent the last few months working with the Georgia campaigns for Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, and yesterday, that work paid off. I couldn't be more in awe of this historical partisan flip that has completely changed the dynamic after the last four years.
But, just hours later, my excitement turned to deep disturbance, shock, and unparalleled disgust incited by our very own American President. While I have only lived a short 23 years on this earth, never in my time in politics did I think that I would experience this in my very own city, the national capital. American democracy was threatened. Public servants were threatened. The freedom that this nation was built upon was threatened. The saddest part of all of this is that these terrorists, and yes, they are terrorists not protestors, did not just up and riot on their own.
Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives" (28 C.F.R.)
Their terrorist actions have been brewing under the cult-like leadership of the President, which I wouldn't have previously condemned so vehemently, but after today's breaching of the Capitol, this has been made so abundantly clear. President Trump's followers and supporters have been so brainwashed by his lies and propaganda that they rose up and attacked our nation's capitol. They destroyed our temple of democracy. If that's not enough to convince you of such brainwashing, take a look at one of his earlier tweets on this day. He publicly asked his OWN Vice President to deliberately go against the U.S. Constitution and to decline the election results put forth by members of Congress. I have given this President the benefit of the doubt for the last four years, but his recent attempts to go against his own Office and his own Oath show me that there is no doubt left to give. His words and actions to overturn his election loss is not only despicable, but as we saw yesterday, it is violent and undeniably unpatriotic.
He has destroyed any ounce of positivity that could stem from his policies. The history books that our children read aren't going to relay the Trump Administration as a positive one, with this event largely to thank, and that in and of itself is a shame.
Even if you want to argue that the media spun the occurrence per usual, which may be true in certain aspects, the fact of the matter still exists:
An election loss is not a valid reason to attack the United States Capitol. Let me repeat that.
AN ELECTION LOSS IS NOT A VALID REASON TO ATTACK THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL.
May 29, 2020: "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
January 06, 2021: "go home. we love you. you're very special. I know how you feel."
These are two different quotes from the President on two separate occasions of protests - one that involved a social and racial justice movement, and the second that involved an overthrow of our Capitol by white nationalists, forcing men and women of Congress to shelter in place.
The number one thing on my mind while all of this was transpiring today was what IF these terrorists were Black Americans? What if this was the Black Lives Matter movement? Would these people have been able to infiltrate, vandalize, and roam the halls of the United States Capitol? Would they have been able to sit at Nancy Pelosi's desk? Would they have been able to shoot into the House chamber? Absolutely not. They would have been immediately taken down upon even stepping foot onto those stairs. This is the pure definition of white privilege. If you've ever been confused on this concept, look no further. Yesterday was a national demonstration of this. It is a known fact that if you storm any federal building like these terrorists did, you. will. be. shot. I don't know one sane person who would storm the US CAPITOL and expect to not be 1) arrested or 2) killed. Breonna Taylor did not storm the Capitol. George Floyd did not storm the Capitol. Black Americans stood up for their lives because they were being disproportionately murdered, not because they lost an election. The National Guard was deployed DAYS ahead of BLM protests, as I saw with my own eyes. Federal law enforcement offers threw tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bombs at PEACEFUL PROTESTORS as I saw with my own eyes, like when the President wanted to take a photo with a Bible in front of a church. But what happened yesterday? Where was the National Guard while all of this was happening? WHY were terrorists able to breach the nation's capitol building? As Mitt Romney stated last night, "today's historical episode was the result of a selfish man's injured pride." THIS is how the Trump legacy will be remembered, and there is not one person to fault but his own damn self. The hypocrisy is astounding, and I, along with so many others, are completely shaken by this.
*NOTE: I do recognize that rioting and looting occurred throughout SOME BLM protests last summer; however, since I did not personally witness any type of rioting/looting in my own city of DC during those protests, I am writing from my own perspective and not what the media portrays. Looting and stealing from businesses should not be a guise for any movement. My disgust comes from those who reprimanded the BLM movement as a whole, yet attacked the literal national capitol and think that was justified because of a conspiracy theory of an election loss versus Black Americans who were fed up with being targeted by police brutality.
Rep. Ben Sasse, R-NE said in his speech last night after the proceedings resumed, "this isn't what America is. We don't want to tell the people who come after us that this is what America is." While I agree that this most definitely isn't what we want to pass on, this sadly IS what America is today. The brokenness we witnessed IS what America is today. The events that transpired are unfortunately the result of the past four years of a leader who has NEVER put the American people's health and safety first. I cannot confidently say that President Trump has truly had America's best interest in mind; he has had his OWN interest in mind, and this insurrection was a pure display of that. It is truly a shame that his presidency will be noted in history for being one of such a divisive, partisan nature that ended in a near-coup, shattering our own Capitol building by his own supporters, and even resulting in the loss of a life.
In America, we have free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power. Why did it have to come to this?
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