People ran and hid in horror as Trump supporters tried to stop the certification of the results of the 2020 election. They broke glass, kicked in doors, and managed to easily force their way past Capitol police. What happened next was telling.
The world watched in shock as the mob went through the Capitol trashing the place, attacking officers, and stealing as they pleased – without being stopped. Attackers were armed with guns, bombs, and more! Their rampage in the name of a “law and order” president even killed a cop! It sent Black people a message.
During Black Lives Matter protests throughout the last two presidencies, we’ve seen militarized police in tanks with weapons of war and deployed military as we fight for justice. And don’t forget a Black woman was killed at the Capitol for much less.
In 2014, Miriam Carey made an accidental U-turn near the Capitol with her baby daughter in the car and was shot five times from behind. Yet white Trump supporters with bombs inside the Capitol were not seen as a threat – because policing has more to do with race than it has to do with safety.
Movements to take power away from police use moments like the siege on the Capitol to show why things need complete transformation. The police let a siege occur with little to no opposition to it, while Black people get killed for nothing. This is systemic! So it’s time for this system to go.