CAPITOL RIOTS: AN ACT SO MONSTROUS

On Wednesday, Jan. 6, we watched in horror as the United States Capitol was stormed by rioters who were summoned from all over in support of President Donald Trump in an attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

For several hours that day my family and I watched as they waved flags that showed their support for Trump and other racially suggestive topics, brought out a noose hung upon a podium, screamed out hate speech, among other things, and broke inside the Capitol and turned it into a playground. Those who made it in took pride in the fear that they put the senators and representatives through – as those members of Congress were rushed into safe places to hide – while the rioters stormed through having what we would call a “field day.” They took videos, pictures/selfies, and even stole items from the Capitol.

They took pride in what they did as they talked to reporters and sat in members’ offices because they felt they would suffer no repercussions. They carried zip ties and planned on taking hostages and it’s said they wanted to do fatal harm to Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As a young person of color, at first I felt anger because I saw the difference in how they were treated versus how the Black Lives Matter protesters were treated. I know people don’t wanna hear this, but it needs to be said and reiterated: If that was a BLM group that had done that, the incident would have been handled drastically different. And though some people, at first, wanted to say it wasn’t racial, tunes have seemed to change.

It all feels like a blur now, what happened – but reading and re-reading articles and watching news snippets or channels replaying what I saw in order to make sure I give an accurate description of what went down, it just feels more real that this day was the day our nation took a fall, and we witnessed it. I never thought I would see something like this happen again, the last time being Sept. 11, 2001. I was 6 months old when that attack occurred, so I don’t really remember anything, but I know there are people that do, that remember seeing it all take place and wondering, How? How could this have happened? That’s how I feel now and I know I’m not the only one that feels like this. What happened last week was a monstrosity that didn’t have to happen and should not have happened, but it did and we cannot change it.

For now, we can only look at the facts and try to make sure this doesn’t happen again. With five deaths – one a being a U.S Capitol Police officer, the others protesters (in honor of Officer Brian D. Sicknick, official flags have been flown at half-staff) – and rioters being identified and arrested and even losing their jobs, the dust seems to be settling on this wildfire.

Still, why did it have to come to this? For years, this has been something that has been pushed into the dark and ignored but now has been brought to light. The fact is that it’s time for a change. This has gone on far too long, having undercover racists as politicians, teachers, priests, police officers, even your next door neighbor(!), being able to blend in and hide while we are none the wiser. And as an African-American youth, I don’t want to feel like I need to live in fear, never knowing who is truly a friend to me and who has something against me for something I can’t control – the color of my skin.

With everything that has taken place, Pelosi and the House will proceed today, Jan. 13, with the impeachment of President Trump, calling him “a threat to democracy” after the assault on the Capitol. This is an extremely vulnerable time for our country. Make no mistake, I fear there are countries that have seen that we are in a weak position and may try to act upon this; they may or may not. I don’t know and I can’t call those shots, but this is surely not a time that I can say I’m proud of.

Let this be a lesson that we all learn from and remember and see that a change is made now, not sometime in the future, because my generation can’t do this alone. We can’t fix a broken system and a damaged economy that will be handed to us when our parents and grandparents pass on, because that is what will happen if this keeps up. If, instead, we start making a change now we can make a perhaps not perfect, but a better, more united nation that will stand together stronger, and maybe we can one day look back on this day in history and see how we have progressed.

I feel a sense of curiosity and a sense of hopefulness that this episode can bring on an era of good, that all of this might finally bring change, one that we as a nation can be proud of.