By Luke Yang, TWR Youth Action Fellow ‘20
What happened in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2020 was reprehensible, and deeply telling of the divides that run across our nation.
First they crowded the barriers.
When those got knocked down, they surrounded the next set.
Once all the barriers were gone, they moved on to the police. Once those were gone, there they were. At the doors of the Capitol.
Sounds like a scene from a movie. A rather poorly imagined movie, at that. How could a mob of hundreds of terrorists make it past all layers of defense on one of the most important buildings in the United States of America? The land of the free! The greatest country on earth!
Could it be that the police were simply overwhelmed by the crowd? After all, while the main crowd surged boldly right up the steps to the front door, others scaled walls and smashed windows, attacking the building from all sides. Yes, it is safe to say that for whatever reason, the forces present at the Capitol were not prepared, or not willing to be prepared, to keep the terrorists in check. And that is truly one of the most infuriating displays of blatant hypocrisy and bigotry in recent memory, which is quite the accomplishment.
It truly begs the question: why? Why were police and even the National Guard ready at a moment’s notice to defend a Target at the height of the BLM protests, while the Capitol was so inadequately defended that terrorists were allowed into congressmen’s offices? Why were tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray used with reckless abandon to control largely peaceful BLM protests, while police physically opened the gates to let the terrorists closer to the Capitol? Why were peaceful protesters literally gassed out of Lafayette Square so the president could create meaningless propaganda, while police at the capitol claimed that they “just gotta let them [the terrorists] do their thing”?
It’s not hard. The answer is obvious, but nobody wants to say it. Our country, from top to bottom of the political food chain, is overrun by exponentially more bigots and racists than we ever accounted for. It’s safe to say there is a problem when those in charge of dispatching police guarding one of the most important buildings in the country, no, the world, see gun-toting, flag-waving, barbaric terrorists as more friendly than protestors trying to comply with orders. Not wanting to see “the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background” is such a thinly veiled excuse to try and protect the interests of white supremacist terrorists that the lieutenant who gave that exact order not to order in the National Guard may as well have been wearing a Klan hat. That a difference in skin color can cause this level of delusion shows just how sick we are as a nation. Causing irreparable damage to a BLM protestor’s face with a rubber bullet the size of a beer bottle is no biggie, but even telling one of these terrorists sorry, you can’t smash the windows of the Capitol and barge into congressmen’s offices? No, they couldn’t possibly do that. That’s a little too far; you don’t do something like that to your friends. That’s just cold, man.
It is precisely this attitude, this culture of racism that so many people in this country - not solely limited to those employed in law enforcement - hold that is so toxic, and revealing of a much deeper problem. Statements made like that of the commander in chief telling the terrorists that they were “loved” and “special” can no longer be dismissed as the ramblings of an aging bigot. Now, more than ever, they need to be recognized as the true beliefs of a staggeringly large portion of this country. If his mere election was not proof enough, and neither was how alarmingly close he came to reelection, the events at the Capitol lay it all out, crystal clear, for everyone to see.
We cannot forget that as recently as just over 50 years ago, America was a country deeply rooted in racism and segregation. Melba Patillo Beals, of the Little Rock Nine, one of the first US schools to integrate, is still alive today. She is 79. Many of our grandparents could easily have been her peers. As difficult as it is to accept, many of them are also guilty of holding the same beliefs as the people who threw stones at, spat upon, screamed slurs at Mrs. Beals and countless other young black children simply trying to get their education. Though times have changed, these beliefs clearly have not caught up with the program. The acts of terror we witnessed today at the Capitol bring this fact into startling clarity: America, compared to the rest of the modern world, remains a profoundly bigoted country with roots in racism that have stubbornly refused to die.
So what can we do? Clearly, pretending those roots do not exist has only given them time to grow deeper and stronger. We must fight hate with love, and that does not mean sitting back and letting monsters get away with acts of terror for the sake of not stirring the pot. The time for that approach has passed, and arguably never even existed. We can no longer ignore the racist, bigoted disease that continues to hold our beloved country in its clutches. It is time to do all we can to overcome the hatred so brazenly displayed at our nation’s capital. The Capitol will be repaired, no doubt about it. It’s up to us, though, to repair the soul of our nation. Whether through volunteering for political candidates that stand up for justice, showing up on election day to vote for those same candidates, or even simply having those hard conversations with friends and family, we must do all that we can. It is no longer admissible to be a bystander.
The Washington Post’s slogan said it best: democracy dies in darkness. Right now, there’s not much light.
It’s up to us to create it.
Luke Yang is a sophomore at Miami Palmetto Senior High School. He is a Youth Action Fellow and Managing Editor of the TWR blog. He is also a Youth Ambassador for the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial, through which he works to put on Holocaust remembrance programs each year.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/capitol-george-floyd-dc-protests.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sund-riot-national-guard/2021/01/10/fc2ce7d4-5384-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html
Banner Image Source:
https://nbc16.com/news/local/officer-injured-during-takeover-of-the-capitol-by-pro-trump-protesters-dies