The Capitol Riot was Distinctly American

Pro-Trump rioters climb a wall at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6 2021 [AP/Jose Luis Magana]

By Sarah Leonard

On Wednesday, Trump incited a mainly white, right-wing riot at the Capitol. As his supporters poured into the building among shouts of, “Trump!” and clouds of tear gas, the media lost its collective mind, and words ceased to have meaning. Here are three things that the press and pundits should have avoided.

Anarchy in the USA

A number of commentators engaged in a wee bit of slippage between their favorite scapegoats – anarchist antifascist organizers – and antifa’s natural antagonists, actual fascists, who were backed by the president and gently watched over by the police. This is particularly unhelpful as right-wing lawmakers begin attempting to shift blame, without evidence, from their own supporters to antifascists. It would be better to describe this group of people as what they are: right-wingers trying to overturn a democratic election.

Banana Republic

Some observers found the proceedings distinctly un-American. “This is surreal,” said CNN host Jake Tapper to his reporter on the ground. “I feel like I’m talking to a correspondent reporting from, you know, Bogota.” 

To be clear, nothing like this is happening in Bogota. As scholar Yousef Munayyer pointed out, efforts to portray the chaos as foreign are not only casually racist (Munayyer wrote that what the media is actually asking is, "Why are these white people acting like brown and Black people?") but reveal a media with very little knowledge of the United States’ own history.

If journalists are interested in what might be gleaned from foreign reporting, however, perhaps it’s that we should apply an equally critical lens. AJ+’s Imaeyen Ibanga tweeted: “U.S. journalists better cover this story of protesters storming the Capitol like they'd cover a nation in the Global South. Bring that same energy and language.”

Thin Blue Line

Throughout the evening, people decried the police response in the Capitol, noting that they should have known what was about to unfold and should not have been so easily overwhelmed. Many compared the cops’ light touch with white, right-wing protesters to the violence they deployed against Black protesters this summer. 

But it shouldn’t be shocking to the media that the police protect white supremacy (in many places it was their founding mission) and have been among Trump’s most passionate supporters themselves. 

As one critic pointed out, “When Black Lives Matter protesters have come within a sidewalk’s distance of a federal building, they have been met with aggressive force, while far-right militia members are left free to go. Trump’s allies are not going to arrest themselves. We have not built – and we cannot build – a jail for white supremacy.”

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