Written by: Jhanavi Ravi
Edited by: Rhea Philips
On January 6th, 2021, a group of supporters of President Donal Trump stormed the Capitol in order to revoke the president’s loss in the 2020 presidential elections. Here’s what exactly happened and why a lot of people are upset about it.
The Capitol in Washington DC was raided on Wednesday by Trump supporters. People roamed through the halls of the Capitol while recording and capturing pictures of themselves going through the Capitol and even breaking the windows in the building. Some of the rioters broke into the offices of some of the lawmakers and began to try and destroy documents. This riot was started by Donald Trump himself in order to stop the US Congress from validating the victory of the president elected, Joe Biden, with the presidential inauguration coming up.
At the beginning of the riots, police and security had tried to stop protestors from entering the building, but the police were not able to stop protestors after one of them had broken one of the windows of the Capitol. This incident is said to be one of the worst security breaches (unauthorized intrusions due to failure of strong security) in US history.
Aside from the violence shown by rioters and how their actions at the Capitol were being supported by Donal Trump, the double standards of protest policing became clearer than ever. In the summer of 2020, there were a large number of peaceful protests for black lives. People walked on the streets holding signs and chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’. Despite protesters being civil and peaceful, the police were very aggressive with innocent protestors being shot and kicked by the authorities.
However, these acts of aggressiveness were not something that the rioters at the Capitol faced with nearly all of the rioters being white. In fact, many people said that the police at the Capitol were said to have taken selfies with the rioters and even allowed them to go inside the Capitol building. Seeing how the US police force would be very cordial and friendly with aggressive and destructive rioters while shooting peaceful protestors advocating for basic human rights shocked Americans and people all over the world.
Here is an example of double standards being portrayed in a more basic scenario:
Emily: Thanks for letting us come to your house so that we can work on the school project, Mrs. Cooper!
Mrs. Cooper: Yup, it’s alright. Anna, I didn’t know you were friends with Sara!
Sara: I’m not really friends with your daughter, Mrs. Cooper. I’m just here to work on the school project.
Mrs. Cooper: Well I’m sure that’ll change eventually. Anna’s a great girl. I heard that your parents just bought a restaurant. I’m sure that must’ve cost a lot of money, your family must be rich!
Sara: Um, yeah I guess so. Can you leave so that we can work on the project already?
Mrs. Cooper: Oh, of course, darling, let me know if you need anything.
Emily: Thanks Mrs. Cooper!
Mrs. Cooper: I wasn’t talking to you.
After some time
Emily: I need to use the restroom. Can I use your guest bathroom, Anna?
Anna: Of course!
*Emily comes out of the bathroom*
Mrs. Cooper: What were you doing in there?
Emily: Oh, I just needed to use the restroom. Anna said I could go in.
Mrs. Cooper: Well, I didn’t give you permission now did I?
Emily: But it’s a bathroom for guests…
Mrs. Cooper: No! I can’t have anyone entering any of the other rooms, alright?
*Anna and Sara come out to talk to Mrs. Cooper*
Anna: Mom! Sara went into my room and broke my favourite picture!
Mrs. Cooper: Oh, I’m sure Sara didn’t mean it.
Sara: Oh no, it was intentional. Anna was getting on my nerves so I thought I’d break some of her stuff.
Anna: Mom! This is so unfair!
Mrs. Cooper: Well, it’s alright Sara, don’t worry about it. You do whatever you want here, alright?
While this scenario might seem like an overexaggerated example of the double standards that the police have shown through the riots at the Capitol, this is quite literally what happened. Emily was being very sweet and nice to Mrs. Cooper but she was being rude to her for no reason. On the other hand, Mrs. Cooper was being incredibly warm with Sara though Sara was being very disrespectful and intentionally destroying things. Did you notice how Mrs. Cooper was talking to Sara about how rich her family is? Do you think that might have something to do with why Sara was excused for purposefully doing things she knows is wrong?
We know the context of what happened during the Capitol riot and how the police acted when it happened, so re-read the scenario with Anna, Emily, Sara and Mrs. Cooper but instead try to picture Emily representing all the peaceful protestors of black lives, Sara representing the rioters at the Capitol building and Mrs. Cooper representing the police. Does this scene feel familiar now? Are you able to see how it is pretty much the same thing that happened at the Capitol?
The double standards that the police in the United States are making very obvious is just a result of the privilege that exists in our society. White people are excused for creating havoc and putting other people’s lives in danger just because they are white, while colored people are shot for trying to peacefully talk about the rights that they deserve. This is an issue that has existed for many years now and it is something that democrats hope will be approached by the President - elected Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
nice examples, they really made your point clear :)