Racial inequality in the United States was on display after a group of President Donald Trump’s white supporters easily stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and then left with few immediate effects , according to Washington residents, activists and politicians, including President Joe Biden.
Riots broke through barricades, smashed windows, blew up memories and entered Congressional offices and rooms, some taking pictures with police.
Some carried trophies as they walked out.
The lack of security and the limited police response, despite weeks of incitement to the pro-Trump protest that sparked the riot, were quite different from the Black Lives Matter peaceful protests in Washington, DC six months ago. .
“My mother said if you did this you would be shot,” said Beatrice Mando, who works in the area and was present at last year’s BLM complaints. “She’s right.” Hundreds would have died, had there not been more, if this group had been Black. “
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump climb on walls at the U.S. Capitol during protests against the confirmation of the results of the 2020 U.S. primary election by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, DC, USA [File: Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
In a speech Thursday, Biden agreed that there was a sharp difference.
“No one can tell me if a group of Black Lives Matter were complaining yesterday, they would not have been treated very differently from the movement of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” he said.
The U.S. saw a summer of widespread demonstrations against racial injustice that began in May after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died as a Minneapolis police station hit him on the neck for nearly nine minutes.
In Washington, DC, participants in these protests said their show was very different.
“Everywhere in DC there was a cup. Every monument, at the Capitol, had a cup in front of the White House, ”said Abby Conejo, 29, who works at a small business in Washington, DC.
The Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington, DC had faced a row of National Guard soldiers at the Lincoln Memorial in June, as Trump promised to crack down on what he declared illegal with “hoodlums” and “thugs”.
One afternoon, a police swing fired a baton of smoke canisters, flashbang grenades and rubber bullets to evict peaceful protesters from the White House, so that Trump could walk to a nearby church and photograph him holding a Bible .
“They treated us like the enemy,” Conejo said. Where was that anger and rage yesterday? Why were these people treated as friends? “
Worried about repetition
The DC Police Department said Thursday that they had arrested 68 people in connection with the Capitol riot. In contrast, nearly 300 people were arrested there when police cleared Black Lives Matter protesters from near the White House.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund praised his officials, saying they responded “bravely” when demonstrators attacked them with “metal pipes, releasing chemical chemicals and building other weapons ”and also tackles two pipe bombs.
Sund later said he would retire from his post on January 16, according to a letter issued by news outlets.
Local residents said they were concerned about the police response as quiet as there may be a recurrence.
Trump supporters try to break through police obstruction Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington, DC [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo]
Charles Allen, a member of the DC council representing the area, said he and his neighbors are used to First Amendment demonstrations and large gatherings.
“That wasn’t it.” This was a revolution. These were domestic terrorists coming into our city and trying to get past the Capitol, ”Allen said, adding that it was difficult for the neighborhood.
“I think people feel able to do this and I think on top of that, they feel inspired by the departure. with memories, “he said.
Among those who stormed the Capitol were individuals waving Confederate flags and wearing disguise-bearing clothing and slogans raising white supremacist beliefs.
“It felt like a tragedy to see not only white welfare but white supremacy in action,” said Makia Green, organizer of Black Lives Matter in Washington, DC. “To see the bias from the government, from the police.”
KIPP DC public schools, a group of local hiring schools, suspended classes Thursday, citing the feelings of the largest black group of students following the riots.
“We are disappointed when we consider the difference between how our country coped with this act of domestic terrorism against peaceful protests last summer,” he said in a statement.
Charles McKinney, an associate professor of history at Rhodes College in Tennessee, said Wednesday’s events in Washington, DC were a reminder of the “great differences” in how black and white people are treated. treatment by law enforcement.
“The response from law enforcement was a clear demonstration of systematic racism. It was a demonstration of white benefits, the differences in policing in this country, ”he said.