Capitol Riots’ Anti-Black Footprint Unforgotten

UPDATED: 10 a.m. ET, Jan. 6, 2025

4 years after the violent revolt on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a obvious double commonplace alongside racial strains stays inconceivable to disregard for anybody listening to all the hateful parts that helped gasoline these riots and outline that second’s legacy by persevering with to disclose themselves.

The aim of the so-called “Cease the Steal” rally was to forestall Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s presidential election based mostly on “the large lie” that nonexistent voter fraud performed a job in his victory over Donald Trump, a suspected white supremacist whose rhetoric is extensively credited for serving to to incite the rioters. However for those who peel again just a few layers of that racist onion, you may recall how Trump falsely blamed states with vital Black voting populations that offered the deciding Electoral Faculty votes to safe Biden’s win.

Supply: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Getty

Georgia, as an illustration, is essentially credited with pushing Biden previous the end line — thanks in no small half to the devoted legion of Black organizers who mobilized voters throughout the state to forged their ballots towards Trump, who additionally blamed Black election staff beneath false pretenses. This was the idea of energizing Trump’s base to behave on his behalf to avenge his loss in probably the most disingenuous of how: by blindly parroting the declare that he was cheated out of being reelected with the assistance of Black people.

With that seed planted, it was no surprise the Capitol riots unfolded the best way they did — with white privilege on the forefront.

Trump and his staff of MAGA fanatics proceed to terrorize a pair of former Georgia election staff, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss — who’re Black and had been on the receiving finish of a whopping $148 million judgment towards former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for a racist defamation marketing campaign. Freeman and Moss finally testified earlier than the Jan. 6 committee, detailing the devastating ranges of harassment they skilled for defending democracy. They’re nonetheless awaiting Guiliani to show over his belongings.

Police reactions and responses

Let’s take the reactions from officers with the Capitol Police, as an illustration. Black Capitol cops have recounted their remedy by rioters, together with being referred to as the N-word. White Capitol cops, nonetheless, may very well be seen really helping Capitol rioters, with one even stopping to take a selfie with somebody who clearly had illegally damaged into the hallowed constructing on the federal authorities property.

Capitol Police Pfc. Harry Dunn, who’s Black, testified earlier than Congress that rioters showered him with anti-Black racism as he tried in useless to regulate the rabid crowd.

“You hear that, guys, this [N-word] voted for Joe Biden!” Dunn mentioned a lady sporting a MAGA shirt yelled at him throughout the riots. He mentioned that prompted a collective response from different rioters: “Boo! F–king [N-word]!”

He mentioned he had by no means been referred to as the N-word to his face till Jan. 6.

Dunn additionally testified that different Black officers instructed him they skilled related remedy, together with one who mentioned he was threatened with racist violence: “Put your gun down, and we’ll present you what sort of [N-word] you actually are!”

The privilege of white supremacy

Philadelphia columnist Solomon Jones puzzled the plain on the time: “Would these insurrectionists have been allowed to breach the Capitol in the event that they had been Black?” He answered his personal query within the resounding destructive as a result of, “Black folks and white individuals are handled in another way by the police, and that’s why it was really easy for an overwhelmingly white mob to assault the Capitol.”

Not solely did they break into and assault the Capitol, however many perpetrators additionally unabashedly looted objects from contained in the constructing, together with private results belonging to members of Congress, like a laptop computer that was stolen from Home Chief Nancy Pelosi’s workplace.

Supply: Win McNamee / Getty

Rashawn Ray, a senior fellow of governance research on the Brookings Institute, drew a transparent distinction between police responses to nonviolent Black Lives Matter motion protests and the uber-violent Capitol riots that additionally solutions Jones’ rhetorical query above.

“Solely about 60 rioters had been arrested on January 6, 2021, whereas practically the identical variety of cops had been injured (together with one officer who was killed together with one of many insurgents),” Ray wrote. “For comparability, on June 1, 2020 in Washington, D.C., practically 6,000 legislation enforcement officers starting from ICE to DEA together with Nationwide Guard helicopters had been mobilized to descend on the realm for a Black Lives Matter protest. Over 300 folks had been arrested that evening. They by no means even bought near the Capitol or the White Home.”

Anti-Black hate teams had been concerned within the Capitol riots

Anytime the Proud Boys take part in something, likelihood is there will probably be an anti-Black theme connected. Members of the so-called Oath Keepers — a gaggle acknowledged by the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle as far-right antigovernment extremists who described Black Lives Matter as “racist” — took half within the Capitol riots, as nicely.

Jan. 6 was a mannequin of white privilege — it’s taken months for suspects to be charged and convicted, a luxurious that seemingly wouldn’t have been afforded had the rioters been largely Black as an alternative of largely white as folks would have been arrested on the spot, in all probability with the brutal violence we see legislation enforcement wielding towards Black suspects each single day.

Notably, Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio was sentenced in September to 22 years in jail for his function within the riots that he wasn’t even in a position to attend since he was arrested the day earlier than it occurred.

Supply: Jon Cherry / Getty

Jan. 6 is defended by racist elected officers

Whereas it has been confirmed that quite a lot of Republican elected officers performed a key function in inciting the Capitol riots, folks like right-wing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Inexperienced have remained defending accused rioters in a racist context. In any case, it was additionally Taylor Inexperienced who mentioned they had been being accused as a result of they had been white.

She claimed that “alleged” contributors within the Capitol riots who’ve been jailed after being accused of a few of the most severe crimes of the occasion are being discriminated towards.

“They had been remoted in a separate wing of the jail, the place they’re abused, the place they’re ridiculed, the place they’re mocked due to their political opinions and due to January 6, and due to the colour of their pores and skin,” she mentioned in December 2021. “So there’s a two-tiered justice system, and these are the issues that want to finish.”

As of three years later, not a single one of many elected officers — none of whom are Black — alleged to be behind the Capitol riots have been held accountable for his or her [alleged] roles.

That is America.

SEE ALSO:

The Black Heroes Of The Jan. 6 Capitol Assault

Jan. 6 Hero Harry Dunn Targets ‘MAGA Extremists’ As Former Capitol Police Officer Launches Congress Run

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