Jan. 6 was as bad as it looked
Don't make excuses for lawless mob
I was at work at the Post-Star two years ago on Jan. 6 when the newsroom TV showed people streaming into the Capitol. It was funny at first, because velvet ropes were set up in the rotunda and the intruders were staying in between them, even though they had forced their way into the building illegally.
“Oh my gosh! Look at that!” I said.
But the scene quickly became anything but funny.
The chaos and violence was astonishing — the smashing of windows and barricades, assault on police officers, vandalism of one of the country’s most beautiful and important buildings, defecation in the hallowed halls of the nation.
Who would do that? The answer — angry supporters of then-President Donald Trump — is even more shocking than their shocking acts. American citizens desecrating the heart of the government is something I had never expected to see.
Like Dec. 7, Jan. 6 is, also, a day that should live in infamy, when the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by a lawless mob.
As with Sept. 11, the country should commemorate Jan. 6 and honor the police officers who sacrificed their health, their careers and, in a few cases, their lives in defense of our country.
Brian Sicknick died of multiple strokes suffered hours after his confrontation with the mob. Two other officers died by suicide within four days of the attack, and two more died by suicide several months later.
The trauma of being stomped and beaten by criminals claiming to be patriots overwhelmed these officers. Imagine the pride they took in protecting the Capitol and then getting clubbed into unconsciousness by citizens wielding poles meant to carry the American flag.
We have not processed the trauma of the Capitol attack. Honoring the men and women who defended the Capitol, as President Biden did on Friday, is a start. Sending the attackers to prison helps, too, and 900 have been arrested, with many already convicted and sentenced. But too many of us feel ambivalent about these insurrectionists and unwilling to call them what they defined themselves as through their behavior — enemies of the United States.
The only Jan. 6 story on the front page of the Washington Post on Friday carried this headline: “Supporters raise millions to rebrand Jan. 6 rioters as ‘patriots,’” and this subhead: “Right-wing supporters of the ‘Jan. Sixers’ cast them as valiant political prisoners — and brush aside powerful evidence to the contrary.”
Powerful evidence?
Let's call the video of the attack what it is — reality. Powerful reality.
No excuse justifies what they did, not that they were misled by disinformation nor under the sway of the president at the time, Donald Trump.
Every one of them is responsible for their own actions.
Immense efforts were made, and in some cases still are being made, to whitewash the horrors of slavery that led to the Civil War. Politicians, historians and lots of regular people have participated in an attempt to blame the war on something else — some sort of vague but intractable political or economic or social difference between the north and the south.
Similar efforts are underway to whitewash the attack on the Capitol as well-meaning, or misguided but not malevolent or, somehow, courageous.
It was treasonous in conception and execution. It was cowardly in its attacks of the many against a few. It was brutal and, in its ignorant desecration of a revered national site, it was barbaric.
Let’s remember Jan. 6 always for the infamous event it was.
Thanks for this column, Will. While I was reading it, I ran over in my mind my memories of earth shattering events in the US political spectrum. I was with a crowd of school kids in a cafeteria when President Kennedy was shot. What happened? What happened? Everyone stirred. A great murmur went through the crowd and joy turned to serious grief. I mark that as the end of the Baby Boomer generation, when the youth of the USA went from believing that the world was full of hope and opportunity, to hesitancy and fearfulness of the future.
When 9/11 happened I was at my sister's house in Rockland County, NY. She was on her way to work in New Jersey when she called me from her car and said, "Turn on the TV. The radio is saying that apparently a light plane has run into the World Trade Center and one of the buildings is burning." I immediately turned on the TV and saw smoke rising from one of the towers. Then I saw a plane in the background coming toward the building. I remember distinctly thinking, "That must be a rescue plane coming to rescue the people on the roof." But, it momentarily disappeared from view, then crashed into the other building. I jumped aback in shock. My niece was in NYC visiting at a friend's apartment and saw it live. She had been filming the other tower's smoke when she saw the second plane and put the video recorder down for a second and saw the second plane hit with her naked eyes. Then she saw the building fall and she and her friend decided they needed to evacuate. We lost contact with her when the tower fell.
On January 6, 2021, I was at my home in Saratoga Co, NY when my cousin called from her home in Rockland Co, and asked, "Are you watching the certification?" I said, "Oh, gosh. I forgot. I'll turn on the TV." That was about 12:30 PM. I was half-way watching and half-way doing something else when I noticed that people were crossing the police line and the reporter was saying something like "it looks like the security line has been breached." I immediately started paying close attention. To my horror the police by the entrance door were just backing away as the crowd pushed past them and into the building. I was yet unable to see the police by the barricades who were being beaten, some with the very pieces of the barricades that were there to prevent their crossing. At some point, I saw news persons being attacked and their cameras being thrashed to pieces. It all became confusing. I couldn't comprehend what was happening. The news announcer, someone from the New York Times, had to leave his post and take refuge in a shelter room from which he was unable to transmit. A secret room. Shots rang out. People were breaking windows. I stood horrified watching this play out live on the TV. The news reporters announcing on the TV were trying to make sense of it. News came in that members of the Congress and the Vice President had had to take refuge in secret chambers. To this day I replay this live coverage in my head and the only analogy I can bring to mind is movie depictions of the storming of the Bastille. Was our Republic being brought down by a mob? Are these people likening our Republic to a heartless monarchy? Is the will of the people, the 8 million plus margin by which President Biden won the election to be cast out by this disrespectful, hateful and destructive mob. Is this the Vandals sacking Rome?
The January 6 Committee did us all a great service. They were able to connect the dots of the narrative and help us understand as a nation what had happened. In the context of the history of the USA and the history of the world, January 6, 2021 was a turning point in global perspective. Our European Allies and Mexican and Canadian Allies are greatly dependent on the United nature of the States of America for their growth and stability. If our future is precarious, so is theirs. Those of us who are citizens of the USA in good faith must support President Biden in his mission to ensure global security, not through weapons of war, but through economic security and a progressive outlook that recognizes the importance of an ecology of hope that protects the dream and the planet. We are one on this planet and alone in the universe. Good government and respect for the law is necessary lest we lose everything.
Yes. We should never forget what happened that day.