What has this country come to and why? On January 6th, 2021, a group of people (Trump Loyalists) stormed the Capitol in Washington D.C. and unleashed havoc. To compare law enforcements response to the storming of the Capitol versus their response to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests this past summer, is alarming.
In June 2020, peaceful protests began because of the death of George Floyd, who died from police brutality. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest his death. How did law enforcement respond? Well, President Donald Trump ordered a strong response to the protestors and deployed the National Guard to stop them. Also, the National Guard was summoned to protect the Capitol Building. Law enforcement met the BLM protestors with tear gas, violence, and a large amount of arrest. Protestors were beaten, arrested, pepper-sprayed, and shot with rubber bullets. Police arrested more than 10,000 people during the BLM protests.
How did law enforcement respond to the riot at the Capitol by Trump Loyalist? It appeared the police did not put forth any effort to stop the rioters. Officers merely allowed the rioters to enter the Capitol. Rioters broke through barriers, climbed the sides of the Capitol, broke windows, paraded the halls, and broke into Senate Chambers. The National Guard was not activated until after the destruction, which by then it was too late. An officer was recorded taking a selfie with a rioter. Officers were also clearly outnumbered. Where was the backup? A federal law enforcement official who was interviewed by CNN, said the DC National Guard did not anticipate being used to protect federal facilities, and the Trump administration decided earlier in the week that protection would be the task of civilian law enforcement (Chavez, 2020). There were only 52 arrests made during the riot. How did law enforcement not see this coming?
President-Elect Joe Biden (now President Biden), addressed the storming of the Capitol in a speech and Twitter post, stating “No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, there wouldn't have been - they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable - totally unacceptable (Summers, 2020).” This is the sad truth of America, but some don’t want to acknowledge it; RACISM and WHITE SUPREMACY are very dominant ideals. If it was BLM protestors storming the Capitol, I assure you that police would have been ready for them, many would be shot and maybe killed. This goes to show you that America needs to change. Let us be one people.
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