Wow. Just Wow. January 6, 2021 - The Good, The Bad and The Totally Insane
Well, you’re going to hear a lot about January 6, 2021 — the good, the bad, the really bad, the totally insane and full circle back (getting on the right track) to good.
The day started early — like 3 am early waiting for the Georgia Senate wins to be announced. I stumbled through the morning basking in the news that Georgia had elected its first Black senator, Raphael Warnock. I mean come on — this is huge!
By noon our Capitol was under attack, the violence incited by our president. It was swift, sudden, crude and relentless. I’ve stood on those steps, they are to be revered, honored, respected. Instead men and women, Americans in full MAGA regalia, stormed the steps and barged into the chambers. They didn’t shy away, they didn’t hide their faces, they wanted the world and the president, to see them in action.
Democracy seemed in dire straits. The police were outnumbered, our leaders hid in locked and barricaded closets — it was terrifying, surreal and insane— and of course it was all caught on camera.
Mid afternoon, in the midst of the insanity — new election results from Georgia — with a win for Jon Ossoff, the state’s first Jewish senator — again, huge news!
You couldn’t begin to celebrate or honor these momentous wins as scenes from the Capitol in chaos were everywhere.
We’ve always been a nation of protests and this past year we dropped to our knees to recognize just how far we’d fallen. We stood up and moved heaven and earth to make the BlakeLivesMatter voice heard.
Today though wasn’t a protest because a black man was murdered on a busy street in broad daylight. This was a gang looking for a fight because their guy lost the election. They were looking to please an audience of one. These were rioters. This was nothing short of domestic terrorism.
Watching today unfold was hard. It was hard as an American, as a proud Democrat, as someone who works for an international organization constantly having to explain “what is happening in America” and as a white woman married to a black man.
While we are a nation that protests we are also a nation that lives deep in hypocrisy. Had these rioters been black they would have been met instantly by the National Guard, tear gas, assault rifles and batons — exactly what we saw this summer — and we’d be having a completely different conversation. Instead these predominantly white rioters are still roaming the streets outside of the Capitol well past the city’s curfew. Yes, some will be arrested, some will go to jail but the passivity of the day is jarring and disturbing.
I could wallow in this hypocrisy but it won’t serve me. Tonight we’re coming full circle. Everyone in high ranks has spoken — some more eloquently than others — and Congress is back at the Capitol to count Electoral College votes and certify the winner of the presidential election. Finally.
Did the day have to go down like this? Of course not. Democracy can be messy but we are better than this — we have to be.
PHOTO: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
