On January 6th, a siege on Capitol Hill held by Trump supporters and urged by Donald Trump took place, resulting in a chaotic scene with the death of one police officer and three rioters. Given that the Capitol has not been stormed in this violent manner in around 200 years, this event once again proves as an example of the white privilege law enforcements easily turn a blind eye to when criticised for their insufficient response. This ultimately begs the question, ‘what if these people were black?’, and the answer which we can only imagine is striking.
What proves to be particularly disturbing is the obscene freedom with which these rioters left their mark; 60-year-old Richard Barnett was found with his feet up on speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, leaning back in the chair with indifference about being caught.
Despite the huge number of Americans angry and eager to see the intruders punished, there has also been Republican speculation that the rioters were associated with Antifa (anti-fascism) and the Black Lives Matter movement. The irony of these accusatory claims once again serves as a reminder of the hypocrisy and
inconsistencies within the collective of extremist conservatives and white supremacists in America. Given that they are fuelled by widespread misinformation through the media and supported by others in an almost cult-like fashion, it is tragically not surprising that an event like this occurred with the encouragement of Donald Trump who claimed that these protesters were supposed to be peaceful.
Another unsettling aspect of this rampage is the ease with which the Capitol building was entered by the protesters. Facing criticism through media, some of the Capitol police have been recorded in video footage and photographic evidence allowing protestors through barricades and even taking selfies with them inside the building. Other police members were left outnumbered trying to handle the chaos, resulting in the use of heavy force and tear gas to enforce the 6 pm curfew in the city. However, this response is not comparable with the response law enforcement took against BLM protests in 2020. Not only was there a significant lack in the type of force and aggression the Capitol police took, but also the number of protestors given the freedom to roam around a national government building not viewed as a criminal threat purely based on their race, despite their violent actions. Yes, arrests were made since the rampage, but if a riot driven by rage and violence on this scale happened at the hands of black people, they would not have white privilege making a police officer stop and think twice. The following image says it all.
Will this inherent level of discrimination and systemic racist outlooks change just because Biden is in office? Probably not. Trump may no longer be in office. But those 'Trump Supporters' are still existent. They may not have Trump as their leader but they still live and breathe those same values and ideologies.
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