JANUARY 2021

 JANUARY 2021 

 

Murphy Browne © January 20, 2021 

 

“What we witnessed yesterday is part of a long-standing tradition of racist ritual violence wherein white civilian mobs are enabled by authorities to rage for a period of time unencumbered & with little to no legal consequence in order to reinforce the racial hierarchy. There’s 2 camps (roughly) among those who recognize there’s a double standard in how law enforcement handles white terrorism v antiracist protests— 1) those who think it reflects a need for reform & training and 2) those who understand that *the double standard is the point*” 

 

Quote from African American activist Bree Newsome, January 7, 2021 

 

On January 6, 2021, the television viewing world was horrified at the sight of the carnage that resulted from the unprecedented attack on the “United States Capitol Building” in Washington, D.C. The January 6, 2021, attack was unprecedented because the only other time the building had been attacked was on August 24, 1814, by British forces based in British North America (Canada.) The August 24, 1814 attack on Washington, D.C. by the Canada based British military was in retaliation for the American destruction of Port Dover (May 14 to May 16, 1814) in Upper Canada, (Ontario) as well as American forces burning and looting the capital of Upper Canada (Toronto) between April 28 and 30, 1813. The American troops had set fire to the buildings of the Legislative Assembly and Government House, home of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The British burning of the Capitol and the White House during the August 24, 1814 attack on Washington, D.C. was payback time. 

 

 

The January 6, 2021, attack was not by a foreign power during war; that attack was by treasonous Americans. An overwhelmingly White domestic terrorist mob scaled walls, smashed windows and doors as they swarmed through the building like destructive locusts. They had been primed and incited by the “leader” of the nation. Just hours before he had bleated, whined and repeated false claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The then President said: "And after this, we're going to walk down there, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down ... to the Capitol and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong." Some have described the January storming of the Capitol as insurrection, coup and domestic terrorism. As the insurrectionists/terrorists attacked the Capitol, their “fearless leader” who had said: “I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down ... to the Capitol and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” was nowhere to be seen. He had returned to his “home base” and hunkered down as he gleefully watched the carnage. 

 

 

Jessica Stern, a White professor, is a leading expert on terrorism and is Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies research professor, whose main focus is the perpetrators of violence and their motivations. When asked: "Does the Capitol attack meet your definition of terrorism?" Stern replied: “Yes. Terrorism involves a violent act, or threat of violence, aimed at attaining a political, economic, social, or religious goal, with the objective of conveying a message to a larger audience beyond the immediate victims. As is common with terrorism, these individuals were communicating with several audiences: existing supporters, the members of Congress they hoped to force not to certify the Electoral College votes, and the American people, whom they hope to either terrify or persuade to join their cause.” Whatever else the display on January 6, 2021 is called, it was a display of White skin privileged people exercising White supremacy. When asked “What do you think is motivating these people?” Professor Stern answered: “Some white people are very threatened by the increasing diversity of our country. Beginning in 2013, more nonwhite babies were born than white, and by 2044, America will be a majority-minority country. White supremacists saw President Trump as a bulwark against the “great replacement” of whites by nonwhites and as the “great cleanser.”” 

 

 

African American journalist and political commentator, Joy Reid speaking of White police interaction with the White insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 said: “These people were so unafraid of the cops. The cops are taking selfies with them, walking them down the steps to make sure that they are not hurt. Taking care with their bodies. Not like they treated Freddie Gray’s body. Freddie Gray was tossed into the back of a police van and his body battered to death like a rag doll until he died.” Reid also said: “White Americans are never afraid of the cops, even when they are committing insurrection, even when they are engaged in attempting to occupy our capitol to steal the votes of people who look like me, because in their mind, they own this capitol; they own the cops. And people like me have no damn right to try to elect a president. They get to pick the president. They own the president. They own that house. They own this country.” Joy Reid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgQ1vKCeEo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73quY93EkM  

 

 

The Capitol was invaded by terrorists who attended a rally held at the White House where Donald Trump and some of acolytes repeated false claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The rioters smashed their way into the Capitol during the joint session of Congress certifying the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The attack temporarily disrupted the proceedings as Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress, and staff were hastily evacuated. The terrorists invaded, looted and damaged the Senate Chamber and several offices, including the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The rioters remained in the Capitol for several hours inflicting untold damage before Capitol Police and the DC Police removed the rioters from the building. One improvised explosive device was found in the Capitol during the subsequent clearing of the premises. The joint session resumed later in the evening and the electoral votes were certified for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZH0bwUuT_A  

 

 

Looking at the insurrectionists storming the Capitol it was not difficult to imagine a lynching scene from as recently as March 21, 1981 when several white men in Mobile, Alabama, beat 19-year-old African American Michael Donald to death and hung his body from a tree. African Americans have suffered generational trauma and terror because of scenes like the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, caught on camera in living colour. It was the same mindset seen at the storming of the Capitol that generations of African Americans witnessed as their towns were burned, their businesses, churches and homes looted, family members and friends lynched. Across America, from Washington to New York, from Minnesota to Louisiana, from Arizona to Florida, African American communities were terrorized with the same gleeful energy that was displayed at the sacking of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Despite the murderous mobs, and in many cases state sanctioned violence, African Americans displayed courage to fight for the vote, integrate schools and neighbourhoods.  

 

On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. During the January 20, 2021 inauguration ceremony for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris which some feared would not happen because of the January 6, insurrection, a 22-year-old African American poet (the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration in the USA) gave hope as she read her poem, “The Hill We Climb.”  

"We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, 

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. 

And this effort very nearly succeeded. 

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, 

It can never be permanently defeated." 

Amanda Gorman ended her poem with: “When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Rn5WULjmc  

 

It seemed apt that “a skinny Black Girl descended from slaves” would recite the inauguration poem. When she said: “We’ve braved the belly of the beast,” I thought of slave ships. I remembered the words of the character “Shango” in the 1993 move “Sankofa” as he referred to living on a plantation as an enslaved person as living in “the belly of the beast.”  

 

Murphy Browne © January 20, 2021