January 6th was a terrible day, did we learn anything?
Unlike, September 11, 2001, January 6, 2021 is a Rorschach test of sorts. People who believe the majority of the media and government accounts of the 2020 election results, see a violent would be coup. People who don’t see that day in a different light. Former President Donald Trump has had several opinions about that day and the people involved. They were patriots who care about the nation. They were “deadbeats” and a few bad apples. They were really Antifa. The best he has said was that this was a “false flag.”
As you probably know, I am on the side of the people who think it was an attempted coup. I keep hearing people say it wasn’t really a coup attempt because the people were not very organized and it failed to change anything. If an incompetent person tries to murder someone and fails, it is still a crime. It’s called “attempted murder” and people go to prison for committing it.
This country has the ability to look into these kinds of events and crimes. After 9/11, Congress held hearings to look into what happened and no one called those hearings partisan. The initial hearings into what happened in Benghazi made sense but the GOP went too far.
As someone who has lived (for a long time) and worked on Capitol Hill, it was hard for me to watch the mob storm the building. If we cannot really investigate what happened and how to prevent it in the future, we will lose our republic.
Why has the NRA not embraced Daunte Wright?
When Kyle Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, went from one state to another with his AR-15, he was breaking the law. People on the right embraced him immediately after he shot three people. When Daunte Wright, pulled over for having an expired registration and a air freshener hanging from his mirror and then nearly arrested for a warrant for not having a state license for his gun, was killed, they were no where to be found. Why?
The NRA is always complaining about regulations on gun ownership, where were they complaining that Wright’s Second Amendment rights were under attack? This is just more proof that you can get away with a lot if you are a white, straight man in the United States.
Do you have resolutions for 2022? You can read about mine here.
Last night, I went to a Black Lives Matter protest in Port Jefferson, New York. More than 300 people marched from the railroad station through the village and ended up in front of Village Hall. We stopped midway and all took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds. It was a peaceful protest. People were respectful of each other and everyone had a mask on. No one seemed particularly angry.
When we reached the intersection of Main Street and West Broadway, there was a counter-protest. This was in front of a bank of shops where pro-Trump banners often hang and where a pro-Trump rally was held a few months ago. None of the counter-protesters were wearing masks. They were waiving pro-Trump flags and playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” Being me, I approached them to let them know they were not playing the patriotic anthem they thought they were.
This went over about as I expected. One woman yelled at me, “The song says BORN IN THE USA, IS THAT NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?” Well, no but that’s beside the point. The people supporting President Trump and opposing the #BLM protest were angry. Very angry. As I walked away they shouted, “Wake up! This is not about blacklives! This is about anarchy! You are going to end up needing the police soon!” Their anger was visceral, raw. They are mad and they aren’t going to take it anymore.
The right turns to gaslighting
They are not alone. After Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police in a Wendy’s parking lot, the place was torched by two white women. A self-proclaimed member of the Boogaloo Bois Steven Carillo killed a security guard in Oakland, California during a #BLM protest. Chevy McGee had a stockpile of weapons confiscated by Denver police. He has said he part of the “Boogaloo movement.”
If you are not familiar with the Boogaloo Bois, they are a right-wing extremist group that wants to usher in another civil war. They are angry and they are armed. They are also not alone. The Proud Boys and American Guard are two other right-wing extremist groups who promote armed conflict and violence.
Meanwhile, in the ultimate case of gaslighting, right-wing groups perpetrate violence and looting and then blame it on the left. Both President Trump and Attorney General William Barr have blamed Antifa (anti-fascist) groups for violent acts even when the FBI has found no such link. Anecdotally, I know people who have expressed sympathy if not full-throated support for the Proud Boys. The people I know are beyond angry. They love Trump because he expresses the same anger they feel. They look around and are angry that white, straight men are no longer the only ones with any control over things. Thousands of years of having power over everyone else just wasn’t enough.
Black anger makes sense
I get black anger. I do. Think about it, if you haven’t already. Africans were pulled from their homes and brought to the New World in the worst conditions. By some estimates, two million died making the crossing.
This is a diagram of a slave ship.
Once they arrived, they were property. This original sin of the United States went on for hundreds of years. Then African-Americans were forced to endure Jim Crow laws, segregation and lynchings. Today, in addition to the brutality they experience at the hands of police and others, we incarcerate more black people than anyone else. The sentences given to African-Americans are much harsher. Dylan Roof killed nine people in a church in South Carolina. He was not killed, he was arrested.
This video is a must-watch if you care about racial justice
Tamir Rice. Brionna Taylor. Amadou Diallo. Bothan Jean. Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. Sandra Bland. Michael Brown. Ahmed Arbery. We know these names because of how they were killed. One of the speakers last night said she was scared of becoming a name on a list. If I thought sleeping in my bed, eating ice cream on my couch, playing in a playground, walking down the street, going to the store and other normal activities could wind up with me dead, I would be angry all of the time.
But people on the side of Black Lives Matter are not plotting against the government and stockpiling weapons. People on the right stockpile weapons. People on the left stockpile books.
Today is Juneteenth. This should be a national holiday. To the people who think, but I’m not racist, all white people have benefited from white privilege. It took me a long time to see how I benefited because my life has not been what people think it is. It is now up to us to move the country past racism and deliver on the promises of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
