It’s happening again. We are witnessing another glaring discrepancy in law enforcement and mainstream media’s treatment of protestors based on race. Black people protesting peacefully for equality and justice versus white people angrily whining about not winning a fair election and BREAKING into the Capitol. While this example is the most extreme yet, it is still a testament to the two realities black and white Americans operate in. We saw the same thing earlier last year when white people angrily rallied about having to wear masks, armed and stomping around on their respective city hall steps. Police stood lackadaisically while white people screamed in their faces. Those white protestors were called dissenters and angry folks. Then we witnessed Black Lives Matter protestors peacefully walking the streets viciously met with pepper spray, rubber bullets, and batons. These black protestors were deemed rioters and destructive instigators. It’s sickening.
Today, a protest turned deadly. A woman was shot and lost her life, but where were all the police? Where was the immediate designation of what the events really were (terrorism)? The police presence was sparse earlier today as mobs of indignant rioters breached the building and sat at Nancy Pelosi’s desk. I guess the Capitol police were too busy opening up blockades and welcoming in their friends.
This didn’t happen in a vacuum. It shouldn’t be surprising. Since Trump lost reelection he has been pushing this fallacy that the voting process was rigged and the election stolen. He’s put out tweets, sent memos, unleashed his spineless surrogates out onto the world to spread this message of an illegal win. He is a text book sore loser. Without any of these wild claims substantiated well into weeks after Biden’s win, the circus continued with speeches from his team at landscaping parking lots and pleas to whoever would listen that were full of painfully awkward cosmetic faux pas and flatulence. Unbridled conspiracy theories became serious talking points and Trump’s base got more and more frustrated with their inability to legally justify a single fraudulent claim they so desperately wanted to be true. Trump declares the election was stolen from him, but if he were to use some of his shady tactics (begging GA’s Secretary of State to float him 11,000+ votes) to win, he would be the one stealing. Of course his followers wouldn’t call it theft. They’d call it a god-given right even though most American voters, the electoral college, and the constitution all say otherwise.
Over the last few weeks these people who have condemned Black Lives Matter protests as riots and unpatriotic began to mobilize themselves. We started to see just how adamant they were about not accepting the outcome. In the clip below, delusional Trump lackeys are interviewed at an event in DC to support this lame duck president’s baseless allegations. It was called, outrageously enough the Million MAGA March (November 14, 2020):
Fast forward to today where these same people have descended onto the Capitol to continue contesting the clear results. They were not peacefully protesting. They were terrorizing the Capitol. They were looking to intimidate and ultimately halt the constitutional process of confirming the electoral votes under advisement of the sitting president. They were not only able to get up to the steps of the Capitol but breach the barricades and security check points to take pictures in chambers and offices. The House and Senate had to be evacuated while the crowd was dispersed by police and there were reports of pipe bombs being found and gunshots going off. Yet throughout all of this turmoil, there was a severe lack of Capitol police, which the media has been questioning. They said it was due to COVID measures but sounds like poppycock! To me, it all seemed meticulously planned to look like a messy rally, but there was definitely organization to do what they did. Participation from officials and law enforcement seems highly likely.
We didn’t see the vigor and gusto with which the police treat peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors. No, we barely saw the police at all during the day. Not until around 5/6pm did they saunter in and begin clearing the Capitol steps and archways, casually pushing back the rioters and trespassers with flash bombs and tear gas- set off at the building’s perimeter not flung into crowds. I didn’t see any rubber bullets and certainly didn’t see any pushing and shoving reminiscent of the aggression shown towards BLM protestors over the summer. There is no question crowd control would have been significantly more violent if these people rioting weren’t majority white. No question. I don’t know how anyone can reconcile this mild treatment of terrorists with the abominable mistreatment of BLM protestors unless they’re just in denial or downright racist. This was a culmination of this country’s history - how civilly police treated these rioters.
The mainstream media refused to call these people who OVERTOOK THE CAPITOL terrorists or rioters or even trespassers. They were characterized as frustrated voters or angry protestors, but they weren’t stripped of their humanity or their cause reduced to empty opinions by intellectual blowhards. At the very least, the mainstream media did acknowledge the president and his minions’ roles in stoking this fire that erupted today. On CBSNews an anchor spoke with the GOP Leader, Kevin McCarthy and she pressed him on air about his position on the election being fraudulent and his direct responsibility for inciting the violence. He denied his rhetoric was responsible for what was happening of course, pivoted, and denounced the violence, vowing this will never happen again, which STFU. None of the republicans who have been supporting the ravings of a mad president seem to think they’re culpable for what happened today. That is their MO. They deny, lie, and cry until they think people forget or won’t care anymore, but not this time. All of them are complicit in the deterioration of democracy the entire world witnessed today, and they can’t “sorry” their way out of this mess. Goddess and Congresswoman Cori Bush even started a petition you can sign to hold these morally bankrupt sycophants accountable. Sign here!
Tonight as the Capitol quiets down and the crowds scurry into the night, back to their hotels, holes, or wherever it is they came from, the day will forever be immortalized. It’s not only a manifestation of sentiments shouted the last four years, but a vivid portrayal of the stark difference white protestors and black protestors are met with and why. President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris have a huge job ahead of them. I truly don’t know how they’re going to do it. The people who were on the Capitol aren’t the only ones who feel slighted by this election cycle. White supremacy has been building power at warp speed these last four years. Not to mention the systemic racism already rooted in society that continues to go unchecked. In the meantime, I’ve taken solace in the majority of the country being onboard to move forward and hopefully start the healing from this toxic presidency. I just wonder if even more people are going to be radicalized by this moment. Plus, Trump is technically still in office until the 20th. Will the new administration be able to undo any of this damage? Only time will tell…
It’s also crummy that this enraging act of sedition is overshadowing the amazing wins in Georgia. Reverend Warnock & Ossoff both won their seats! The Dems officially have control of the Senate! It’s a huge accomplishment and another thing to be hopeful about as we continue to stumble through this entirely exhausting transition process.