"This is America, this is who we are! It took an act of violence and insurrection from a majority white group of domestic terrorists against the most powerful leaders in this country, also mostly white, to see what many minorities see every day, the hatred that has been skirted under the rug for so long in this country."
Washington, DC now has more military personnel protecting it from domestic terrorists than “there are U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan” as the local news keeps repeating. This “shocking” turn of events is ironically taking place as we head into Martin Luther King, Jr, Day when we try to remember how far we have come as a country since people of color used to be treated unequally compared to now. The “I have a dream” speech was almost sixty years ago, and I am not saying that there has not been any progress, but I do not know how one can see what happened two weeks ago on January 6th when rioters, some armed with guns, weapons, and zip ties, stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of a national election with intent to harm those in their way, and still think that things are equal on how this government treats people of color compared to whites.
Ever since that day time and time again I see elected officials stating publicly that “we are better than this,” and “this is not (fill in the blank with some other country that is easy to pick on) ______” because that is what we do best in this country, we put ourselves on a pedestal and then we look the other way. Lastly, we actually believe our own bullshit, or at least we pretend that we do. But are we really better than this? We lead the Americas and most of the world in gun violence (as well as Afghanistan by the way), with only Latin American countries that are overrun by gangs with higher gun violence than the United States. Each year we have more mass shootings than the prior year, including last year, the only reason that you did not hear about it is because there were only three things on the news last year: how amazing Donald Trump is, how much of a jackass Donald Trump is, and how many people are dying every day from Covid-19. It turns out that Covid-19 was a sexier killer for the media than the typical American active shooter who is usually excused because he did not get enough hugs as a kid. So why the hell are we surprised when extreme rioters, many of them white supremacists with ex-military backgrounds who gave plenty of notice and warning that they were coming, including that morning, tried to take over our Capitol?
This is America, this is who we are! It took an act of violence and insurrection from a majority white group of domestic terrorists against the most powerful leaders in this country, also mostly white, to see what many minorities see every day, the hatred that has been skirted under the rug for so long in this country. And by the way, Donald Trump is not the cause of this hatred, it was already there long before he came to power, it just needed a vehicle to come out. On top of that, our federal government has the audacity to say that “we do not understand why officers were so unprepared,” are you serious? These rioters were not Mexicans climbing over the wall a la “World War Z” style nor were they Muslim extremists, after all, we built a wall supposedly to keep exactly that from happening and we banned many Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. These were naturally-born full blooded majority white Americans, and so they get a pass. It was not that the government was unprepared, it was simply business as usual when it comes to preferential treatment, only this time it came and bit them in the ass. Below is a quote written back on November of last year from an article talking about the rise in mass shootings in the United States despite Covid-19:
“In September the FBI identified the election period up to the 2021 inauguration as a “potential flashpoint”, issuing an intelligence report warning of an imminent “violent extremist threat” from far-right militias, including white supremacists such as the Boogaloo Boys.”
Do you honestly think the Feds did not know this was coming, it was practically prophesied? The Feds pick and choose what they go after, and domestic terrorism is just not high on the agenda for them, take your best guess as to why. So now that you know, what next?
It is going to be interesting to see if our leaders actually do something about what has happened, not necessarily because this is an epiphany moment, but because you really can’t hide this one. There have already been plenty of comparisons to Black Lives Matter protests last year and the consequential arrests on blacks versus the response on what was a premeditated panned coup d’etat. But this goes beyond civil unrest, our country thrives on inequality, it is the norm for America. Black Americans and other minorities got redlined for decades, stemming from legal government practices, which now have created a huge disparity in home ownership. “Driving while black” is very real, and only gets attention when the cops accidentally pull over or stop a known celebrity like Chris Rock for example. Police brutality against people of color is not going away, and only has come to light so frequently in this past decade because technology finally caught up to racist police officers. Finally, mass incarceration remains a big business in this country, and African Americans are herded into prisons like cattle every day but this government does nothing about it. What else has to happen for people to open their eyes about our unequal treatment towards people of color, specially black Americans?
The last time there were these many troops in Washington D.C. was sadly when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Fifty years later after his assassination not only are there troops barricading Washington, DC, but many capitals across the United States. Furthermore, a presidential inauguration, which is what supposedly, makes this country so great because of our democratic freedoms in comparison to, hmmm, let’s say “Afghanistan” again since that seems to be the country of choice these last few days, has been practically ruined. Our nation sees the first woman of color become Vice President this upcoming week, a few days after Martin Luther King Day, but no citizen will be allowed to personally witness it without fear for their lives. Instead of ignoring that this is who we are, at least let us try to start accepting that this is who we are, that is the first step to any real change. This is America, so now what? Do you like it or do you think we can do better? I could tell you who would not like it, and we happen to honor his name on the third Monday of January every year.
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