You see it used over and over. Especially when you see people compare what took place on January 6, 2021 to the BLM and Antifa demonstrations the two years before. It’s a word created to try to stop the discussion. It’s a word which tries to cancel the actions of one group of people in an effort to further magnify the actions of another group of people. Because for anyone trying to compare the actions on one single day, where the amount of violence, death, and destruction pales in comparison to the multi-city riots which took place for over two years, freedom of speech just can’t be tolerated.
One does not have to excuse, overlook, or dismiss the actions on January 6th to put into perspective the destruction and death which took place in our cities, to officers, to federal and state properties, to the property rights of businesses and citizens in their path. January 6th was a bad situation. It got out of control. It was in our nation’s capital. And we all wish it hadn’t happened, but the truth is it is only being treated as an insurrection due to the fact it was in congress’ backyard. If it had been in your backyard, it wouldn’t have mattered.
But just as one doesn’t need to ignore what happened on January 6th, we shouldn’t ignore what happened all across our country, in our cities, and to other federal and state properties. The damage, destruction, and out of control anger displayed in one instance doesn’t cancel that done in another. We can at least agree that a protest, the use of our God given rights of free speech, doesn’t involve violence and destruction. Whether you are right or left, once the gathering crosses that line, it is a riot, not a protest. And if one is not an insurrection, then certainly neither is the other.
In the case of the so called insurrection of the capital, the people being charged have been held for months without bail, without due process, without the simple rights and resources afforded by our constitution to murderers, rapists, and terrorists. They have been buried under state propaganda, the scripted use of the word insurrection over and over and over by politicians and news media until we have reached the point that people won’t even consider the facts of the event. In the event of the other, the standard used was they’re just letting off steam. So, lets look at some facts to develop some perspective.
Fact 1 – They were led into the building. They didn’t break in. There are numerous videos of police letting them in, removing barriers, directing them on stairs and in hallways, holding doors open for them, leading them into the tunnel and through the rotunda, and carrying on conversations with them all along the way. Even in the House Chamber, the atmosphere was less like an insurrection and more like a strangely warped comedy. Trespass into the People’s House is questionable with CPD leading the way, insurrection is a stretch.
Fact 2 – The only individual actually killed on January 6th was an unarmed protester, a veteran who by all indications served our country admirably, Ashli Babbitt, and who was killed by a Capitol police officer, Michael Byrd. Byrd is on record saying he didn’t even know whether he was shooting a male or a female. He said he couldn’t see the target he was shooting well enough to determine. How does that fly? Would any other officer who shot and killed an individual while claiming they didn’t even see the target they were shooting get a pass? How did he make the decision his life was in danger if he couldn’t even see his a weapon, or the presumed aggressor? And as far as a threat, recent video indicates Babbitt may have been trying to stop the protesters from entering the chamber. She and CPB officers talked casually right before the incident. Right before officers suddenly left the area and let things spin out of control.
Fact 3 – Congress was interrupted for six hours. After the interruption, they went on to do their duties. Yes, some were spooked, but none were harmed. There have been other instances of congress being prevented from doing their work for as long as twenty-six hours by protests. In the history of our country, plenty of our representatives have come under threat.
Fact 4 – It wasn’t the worst protest to ever hit Washington. A protest at the White House May 31, 2020 injured 14 Secret Service agents and as many as 50 were injured over the weekend. St. John’s Church was set on fire. The threat to the White House was serious enough to move the President to the bunker. Twelve hundred guardsmen were deployed. In 1968, riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spurred 1,180 fires and damaged 1,199 buildings. A total of 12 people were killed.
Fact 5 – It wasn’t an armed insurrection. There were no fire arms or other weapons found in capital. No one arrested was carrying weapons. However, there were arms found in some vehicles, within the capital city. Who goes to overthrow the government and forgets to get their weapons out of the car? A protest that got out of hand, sure. An armed insurrection? No.
Fact 6 – They weren’t trying to overthrow the government. They were protesting what they believed was an unfair election. They were supporting the constitutional process. They were supporting the protest of the electoral votes, just as had been done in multiple elections, including during the electoral count which gave Donald Trump the presidency. Democrats protested 11 times during the electoral count for the 2016 election. It is the constitutional process. There have been 8 contested elections in the nation’s history. The elections in 1876, 1888, 1960, and 2000 were especially contentious. In fact, since 2001 Democrats have objected to 3 different electoral counts. Congress decided the fate of the president or vice-president in 1800, 1825, 1837
Fact 7 – It wasn’t the only time there was violence or physical damage done at the capital. In 1998 two Capital officers, Special Agent John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut, were killed when Russell E Weston Jr. opened fire inside the capital. In 1915 a German Professor, Erich Muenter, set off a bomb near the Senate Chambers. In 1954, five congressmen were injured when four Puerto Rican gun men fired on them in the House of Representatives. In 1971, the Weather Underground set off a bomb that did $300,000 in damages while protesting our involvement in Vietnam. In 1983, a bomb planted by the protest group ARU went off in the Senate wing doing $250,000 damage.
Fact 8 – BLM/Antifa George Floyd riots did $2 billion in damages just to insured property across the country. When you include the cost of personal properties and businesses which were uninsured the cost would be much higher. Although defenders are quick to point out that there were arrests, they fail to recognize or mention that most of the offenders were released without charges. And even those who were charged were largely charged and released, as opposed to the January 6th protesters.
We could go on and on making points, comparing. But the point is, on every level from the FBI, to news media, to politicians the judgement of anyone involved in January 6th has been over the top and considerably more difficult than any of the left wing protests. If we’re going to judge, if we’re going to learn from our mistakes, if we’re going to move on as a country — there has to be some reason and equal justice applied. We can’t give one group of protesters a slap on the hand and let them go, when we are going after another group of protesters full bore, just because of where the protests took place.
Yes, Washington D.C. is the heart of our government, but it isn’t the heart of our nation. The people are the heart of our nation. Yes, if you love our country, Washington D.C. is a special place full of history and sentiment, but there are other places in our country just as important. Virginia, and Philidelphia also hold much of our history, as do the Original Colony states. The capital is the people’s house, and federal properties are the people’s properties. The US Government doesn’t own them, the people do. The US Government doesn’t own anything, they can’t buy anything, they can’t pay for anything – They aren’t legal owners because they aren’t an entity, they are a representation OF THE PEOPLE. Damage done to a US Federal Courthouse by a protest group is no less important than damage done to the US Capital.
They didn’t strike at the heart of democracy. [First of all, we aren’t a democracy, we’re a republic and there is a difference] The heart of our government isn’t in Washington DC. Those people are only substitutions, empty shells which represent the People of the United States. DC is a facade; the place where our country does its business, no more the heart of our country than the empty set Biden uses for his Presidential updates. The heart of our government lies within each one of us; within our states and our communities. WE are the heart of the Republic. To strike at the heart of our country, they have to strike down each and every law abiding citizen – be they Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Libertarian.
No one likes what happened that day in January., but let’s just keep it in perspective.
