It’s been a year since a mob of pro-Trump supporters bombarded the Capitol in protest of the election results that dismissed President Donald J. Trump from office. The criminal attack on the Capitol resulted in the deaths of seven people, one being Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt who was shot by an officer, and the injuries of over 150 people.
Since then, debates over the January 6 incident have fatigued the general public with some losing interest quickly. Reason why is because the debates seem to be so trivial and immature that adults with responsibilities don’t have the attention span to invest in such fodder, especially if it’s not involving a Kardashian (sarcasm).
But seriously, one would think that if a person commits a crime, then that person would have to face a consequence. This is where the contention arises because many of those involved have not had a day in court or jail. Pretty hypocritical considering how adamant Californian police forces were about wrangling the flash mob burglars that ransacked a few high-end stores over the holiday season. Meanwhile, Democrats are furious with Trump for allegedly inciting the whole riot and doing nothing to deescalate the situation.
And while the whole conversation is becoming redundant, there’s people such as Wyoming politician Liz Cheney that insists the Capitol attack is a “historical event” of importance — not the root cause of the riot or Trump’s popularity, that being the ongoing deep-rooted racial friction of a historically violent America. President Joe Biden calls the riot an “armed insurrection,” while conservatives have revised events of the incident to fit their narrative of Jan. 6 being an uprising of the people in a quest to protect democracy.
After U.S. citizens dealing with a tumultuous two years of wacky politicians and pundits politicizing everything from face masks to vasectomies, here is yet another issue that politicians are causing more division on — instead of unity. Apparently, if a person doesn’t think the Capitol Hill attack was a big deal then that person is considered to be siding with the Republicans. If a person views the Jan. 6 riot an indelible threat to American democracy, then the side of Democrats would be most fitting.
In light of the one-year anniversary, Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a moment of silence in the House chamber early on Thursday. A series of discussions, reflections and a candlelight vigil on the Capitol’s steps will follow.
The rest of the U.S. has it’s own sentiments, but should Black America care about the fallout of the overtaking of the Capitol? The simple answer is yes. Black voters have been credited for being the main demographic who played a critical role in getting the Democrats back into power in the last presidential election.
Since the Fifteenth Amendment, where former enslaved individuals were given the right to vote, opposers have gone out of their way to diminish the power of the “Black Vote.” Tactics, such as limiting state-by-state voter qualifications, discriminatory laws, severe fines and prison sentences, and even intimidation and violence, have been the connective tissue of all of the racial corrosion impacting America’s progress.
See, if the Black community can project their power through the lawmaking, political fabric of the U.S., then many things would change, to the dismay of those who have been in power for years.
If individuals are allowed to “act up” anytime things don’t go their way, it can cause anarchy. But, let’s not get it twisted. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “a riot is the voice of the unheard.” It would serve Black Americans to pay attention on how the Jan. 6 riot is handled by those in power because it will certainly edify or deject the ideologies of those who oppose the protests and riots executed by the Black community.
Of course, an individual with common sense understands the difference between protesting against police brutality and an unfair social construct that has oppressed Black Americans for years, versus a hissy fit over your chosen presidential candidate not being elected based on unproven claims of election fraud.
Beyond this, Gil Scott Heron said “The revolution will not be televised.” In other words, perhaps all the theatrics of Jan. 6 is yet another televised distraction to draw people away from the real problem with America. And you better believe, it’s a racial one.
