America, It’s Time to Take the Red Pill

Our biggest problem? Moral apathy on the anniversary of the 1/6/21 insurrection.

White men storm the Capitol in a class—and racially—charged attempt to violently take over the U.S. Capitol. Image: Getty

It’s been 365 days since the twice-impeached former president, Donald Trump, stood before his legions of fans in Washington, D.C., and urged them — no, commanded them — to “stop the steal” and “go take their country back.” It was a sight that no one could have imagined, and yet the FBI, Capitol Police, and D.C. Metropolitan Police should have been prepared for it but weren’t.

Since then, we have been nationally stunned by Republicans who completely and totally gaslight a day we all witnessed take place. We have allowed the reality of the breakdown of that day to fall by the wayside. The main question that should have been asked about the 1/6 insurrection is not how did it happen, but instead why did all policing mechanisms fail? This is the real question, and the answer doesn’t require a House commission to uncover.

Why did all police systems fail on 1/6? Simple: Because they were never intended to protect white people from themselves.

In the New York Times article, “The Capitol Police and the Scars of Jan. 6,” the reader receives a horrific and graphic account of the day that 150 officers were injured, beaten, and tased by rabid Trump supporters who were hyped up and then unleashed by their lion tamer. Aside from the brutality they faced, the article also highlights the many emails that went out referring to folks as BOLOS, or, be on the lookout for. Many red flags were overlooked.

The FBI also received tips and could see that white nationalist groups were organizing in plain sight. Ultimately the agency decided that it was much ado about nothing. Why? Because historically when some White people scream about liberty, they are applauded for it — not seen as a threat. “If any white man in the world says give me liberty or give me death, the entire white world applauds,” said James Baldwin once, while in conversation with Dick Cavett in 1969. “Yet when a black man says exactly the same thing — word for word — he is judged a criminal and treated like one, and everything possible is done to make an example of this bad nigger so there won’t be any more like him.”