January 11, 2021
The events of January 6, 2021 were not a protest—it was a riot to uphold white supremacy.
It was allowed to happen. The mostly white insurrectionists roamed freely and without consequence through the heart of our democracy. The only explanation is that this was allowed to happen because they were white—not Black, Brown or Indigenous people.
The white mob that made its way to the dais of the US House of Representatives and the Senate, literally sitting in the chair the vice president had been in minutes before, is the ultimate embodiment of white privilege.
We saw two Americas on January 6th. In one America we saw record voter turnout driven by Black voters that resulted in the election of the first Black and first Jewish senators from the state of Georgia—our democracy at its best.
In the second America we saw a mostly white mob, encouraged by the president, violently invade the seat of our democracy in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. It was a failed coup—our democracy in peril.
Both of these Americas are us. Black and Brown people have long understood this. They’ve been exposed to the white tyranny that was on full display at the January 6th riot since the founding of our nation. It’s the double standard that undergirds white supremacy in our nation.
Both of these Americas are us. How we respond to the events of January 6th will determine which America we will be.
Resign, impeach, 25th Amendment... not one more day.
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