Contrasting Progressive Protests to the Capitol Riot

Left: Police pepper-spray an anti-racism protester in Portland, July 29, 2020 [AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez]. Right: A pro-Trump rioter steals a lectern from the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2020 [Getty/Win McNamee].

By Samantha Grasso and Alexia Underwood

Of all the scenes we witnessed yesterday, the one that stands out the most is of police officers and other law enforcement idly standing by while a violent, mostly white mob of Trump supporters rages through the seat of the U.S. government.

It stood in stark contrast to scenes over the summer of law enforcement violently suppressing largely peaceful demonstrations for racial equality and to other recent protests against injustice. We’ve rounded up some thoughts and reflections from activists and advocates on what transpired yesterday at the Capitol, and what it says about the state of our country today.

“When Black people protest for our lives, we are all too often met by National Guard troops or police equipped with assault rifles, shields, tear gas and battle helmets. When white people attempt a coup, they are met by an underwhelming number of law enforcement personnel who act powerless to intervene, going so far as to pose for selfies with terrorists, and prevent an escalation of anarchy and violence like we witnessed today. Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been teargassed, battered and perhaps shot." – Black Lives Matter Global Network in a statement to AJ+

“Racist justice = 760 arrests were made at Standing Rock in North Dakota in 2016/17. Police used attack dogs, mace, batons, rubber bullets, water cannons and militarized surveillance against peaceful protesters defending water and sovereign tribal land." – Nina Lakhani, environmental justice reporter at The Guardian, about the policing disparity between the Capitol insurrection and water defenders at Standing Rock, on Twitter

"The white terror that we witnessed yesterday at the U.S Capitol was a continued reminder of who our country is and what it has always been, a land of white supremacy. Many of us who organize in this terrain, for the preservation and dignity of Black life, have found ourselves harmed, in a cage or needing to pay the bail of an arrested comrade. And many of us who are Black, who have not intentionally put our bodies on the line in protest have been harmed, caged, and needing to pay the bail of an arrested loved one. We are clear on why that did not happen during the white vigilante invasion, and thus continue in our commitment to Black liberation and care." – Arissa Hall, organizer and co-founder of bail fund organization National Bail Out, in a statement to AJ+

"Like so many marginalized communities, disabled activists always knew who exactly the president was in 2016 and what he stood for. The hate and bigotry was never hidden, especially during the pandemic, but people refused to believe us and aligned their interests with this fascist." – Alice Wong, disabled activist and founder of the Disability Visibility Project, in a statement to AJ+

“The FBI surveils Black and Muslim folks so throughly that they once accidentally showed up to a neighborhood funk parade thinking it was going to be a protest. This was planned online in broad daylight but somehow escaped the same scrutiny? I know how seeing people walk freely in the capital after a summer of watching BLM protesters get beat by police for standing peacefully made me feel. But imagine how it made a budding white supremacist feel to see that difference in treatment. I believe the word is emboldened.” – Ashley Nicole Black, a comedian, on Twitter

“Over the summer, we saw police brutalize Black and LGBTQ protestors for peacefully demonstrating in the streets. Karon Hylton was killed for riding a scooter without a helmet. To see fascist terrorists allowed into the Capitol, to see police take selfies with the insurrectionists, to see them attempt to deescalate a violent mob is a sickening reminder of whose voice matters in this country and whose life has value in the eyes of our institutions. It is shocking, yet again, but not in any way surprising. Had the people in yesterday’s attack on Congress been people of color, there is no doubt in our minds that we would have seen more obvious violence and resistance against their attack.” – Extinction Rebellion DC, a nonviolent climate action group, which has previously protested inside the Capitol, in statement to AJ+

“As ADAPT and as our predecessor activists in the Black civil rights movement know, the systems we operate in ARE violence to disabled, Black, Indigenous, Queer and all other marginalized people … We are not surprised that the violence demonstrated by the armed insurrectionists storming the United States Capitol yesterday was unchecked; those mutineers were there to preserve the systems of violence that oppress us." – Laura Halvsorson, disability rights activist, on the behalf of herself and other members of grassroots disability rights group National ADAPT, in a statement to AJ+

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