By Stacy BrownNNPA Newswire
On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, a date now mounted within the American conscience, former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn returned to the second that altered his life and the nation’s course.
Showing on “Let It Be Identified,” Dunn spoke in regards to the unforgettable day that’s formed by time, ache, and resolve, revisiting what he has known as the worst day of his life.
Dunn joined the US Capitol Police in 2008 and has served as a Non-public First Class since 2011. His profession positioned him on responsibility for presidential inaugurations, joint classes of Congress, State of the Union addresses, and a whole lot of peaceable protests. As a Disaster Intervention Officer on the USCP Disaster Negotiation Group, he was skilled for hostage conditions, barricades and psychological well being emergencies. None of that coaching, he stated, ready him for Jan. 6, 2021.
“I lived the worst day of my life on nationwide TV,” Dunn stated.
5 years later, Dunn stated one thing he had not all the time been in a position to say.
“I’ve healed from that trauma,” he stated, referring to his private wounds from that day.
The therapeutic, which he made clear, didn’t imply forgetting. Dunn stated it’s doable to get well personally whereas remaining troubled by what continues to unfold within the nation.
“As we glance round on the issues which can be occurring,” he stated, “it’s exhausting to be okay with all the pieces. In case you’re okay proper now, I really feel such as you’re form of like a callous soul.”
Dunn stated he stays centered on what he can change and the place his voice nonetheless issues. Jan. 6, he famous, made him identified to a lot of the world, nevertheless it didn’t outline the bounds of his duty.
Accountability, or obvious lack of it, ran by way of the dialog. Dunn spoke as civil lawsuits proceed towards President Donald Trump and as Trump has pardoned these convicted for his or her roles within the assault. Dunn stated he was not stunned, including that Trump had promised these pardons brazenly.
“I knew it was coming,” Dunn stated. “So, I had time to arrange.”
Preparation meant motion. Dunn stated he labored as a surrogate for former Vice President Kamala Harris through the Harris–Walz marketing campaign, attempting to cease Trump’s return to workplace. When that effort failed, he stated the ache was not sudden. It was acquainted.
“The injuries had been already there,” Dunn stated. “I simply had time to brace for it.”
Dunn rejected calls to maneuver on from Jan. 6, saying the document stays unsettled.
“Historical past bends towards distortion when accountability is denied,” he stated. “100 years from now, any person goes to examine January 6 and browse that he was elected once more and ask, ‘How may that occur?’”
He stated Individuals don’t want clarification to know what occurred inside and across the Capitol.
“You don’t want a speaking head,” Dunn stated. “Simply press play. Put it on mute. Watch.”
Dunn recalled how rioters filmed themselves, how juries later watched those self same movies in courtroom, and the way the attackers felt emboldened. He stated they advised officers repeatedly that the president had despatched them.
“They had been telling us, ‘The president stated we may,’” Dunn stated.
He addressed comparisons typically drawn between Jan. 6 and Black Lives Matter protests. Dunn stated Black Lives Matter demonstrators got here to the Capitol, protested, shouted, and left.
“They didn’t storm the Capitol,” he stated. “Each single individual went residence that night time. I can’t say the identical factor about January 6.”
Dunn spoke of officers who died and of others who later took their very own lives. He stated makes an attempt to equate the occasions ignore these losses.
The dialog turned to the current, with Dunn saying Jan. 6 laid groundwork for what he sees now, from threats towards different nations to the erosion of democratic norms. He stated Individuals had been warned upfront.
“He advised us what he was going to do,” Dunn stated. “And when he did it, individuals acted stunned.”
The fee, he stated, stays deeply private. Dunn described election night time as feeling like a knife by way of his coronary heart, saying it was tough to simply accept that many citizens returned to energy a person he holds liable for one of many darkest days in U.S. historical past.
Dunn stated he continues to obtain hateful messages and loss of life threats, together with in latest weeks. He stated he takes precautions, leans on his group, and retains displaying up.
“Which means I’m doing one thing proper,” he stated.
Dunn additionally mentioned his New York Instances bestselling memoir, “Standing My Floor: A Capitol Police Officer’s Battle for Accountability and Good Bother After January sixth,” which he stated was a part of his therapeutic.
“The place does it finish?” Dunn stated. “The story continues to be being written. You may add to it, however you’ll be able to’t take away from it.”
He stated he now speaks throughout the nation about resilience, rejecting straightforward assurances.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be okay,” Dunn stated. “However I do know if we don’t combat, if we don’t present up, they’re going to steamroll us.”
He paused, then supplied what he may promise.
“If we present up,” Dunn stated, “we give ourselves a combating probability.”
This text was initially printed by Phrase in Black.
