(This is a quick take on something that’s stuck in my craw since Wednesday’s armed insurrection. If you’re looking for anything more than that, sorry. Please read & add your thoughts on the final questions.)
This past week, Americans witnessed an armed insurrection that was incited by the sitting President of the United States. This insurrection, or failed coup if you like, resulted in multiple civilian injuries, 50 injuries to responding USCP and MPD officers. It also resulted in 5 fatalities, including Capital Police officer Brian Sicknick. Sicknick died later after being beaten with a fire extinguisher.
In its aftermath, I’m unable to shake the stench of white supremacy that fueled every single aspect this tragedy.
Let’s go back to last year’s protests after the murders of Breonna Taylor & George Floyd. Black people and their allies flooded the streets of cities across the country to show their disgust at the never-ending nightmare of police violence towards Blacks, and the systemic racism at its core.
For our efforts, we were beat mercilessly, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and arrested by the thousands. Why? Because white supremacy has little tolerance for uppity Black folk. One need only look at history books to witness the horrific manner in which Black empowerment is swiftly met with death and destruction by the white power structure (see Opelousas, Tulsa, Rosewood, and Catcher massacres to name a few).
Orders for this treatment came from the highest offices in every state, as well as the DOJ in DC. I don’t know about anyone else, but I won’t ever forget Attorney General Barr’s violent clearing of peaceful protestors in Freedom Plaza in order for President “Blacks who opposed me are stupid or SOBs” to do a photo-op in front of St. John’s Church.
When all was said and done, Black and Brown people vowed to take power back with their votes in the fall general election. Pols everywhere were put on notice. Most importantly, the President was put on notice.
Try as hard as he could to stop us via registration suppression and USPS sabotage, Black people voted in record numbers – in multiple cities – to put Biden over the top for the win. Black people had reached a breaking point and reacted accordingly. Unfortunately, white supremacy not only hates uppity Blacks; it also hates losing.
The President (AKA the leader of America’s preeminent white supremacist party) steadfastly maintained that vote fraud cost him the election in each of the states where, coincidentally, Blacks had voted in record numbers. Using endless repetition of this lie (with the help of a supporting gop cast), he convinced his proud boy/qanon base that they needed to fight back and overturn the election that Blacks and their allies had stolen from him.
Fast forward to January 6, 2021. Without the usual target for “Black” backlash, white supremacy proceeded to turn on itself. Those who had relished beating peaceful BLM protestors now found themselves on the receiving end of a mob intent upon seeking retribution for the defiance of Black voters. Anyone standing in their way, even other sympathetic white supremacists, needed to pay for their disobedience.
Previous chants of “Back the Blue” quickly turned into chants of “Fuck the Blue”. Capital Police officers were attacked with mace and lead pipes by insurrectionists carrying both the standard bearer of their leader AND that of the last traitorous group that had threatened to topple our nation. They gleefully followed his instructions in their to overturn the election and kill those in the line of succession who opposed him.
Thus, the white supremacy snake began to eat its own tail.
I realize that this is extremely simplistic take on an extremely complex and frightening episode in our nation’s history. But as I said earlier, the racial aspect of this insurrection has been stuck in my craw since it began.
The unequal treatment between peaceful BLM protestors and armed insurrectionists has stuck in my craw. The continuing calls for “only legitimately cast (white) ballots” to be counted has stuck in my craw. And the continued protection of a President who incited all of this by those who need his racist base to maintain their own political ambitions has stuck in my craw.
Now you tell me. What’s your take on this? What’s been stuck in your craw?