The Illusion of Law and Order
Truth be told, I would not consider myself to be a “Proud American.” Yes, I enjoy the freedoms afforded to me in this country- but I receive them as a white man, born into a well-off family. I certainly am not proud of the capricisously evil slave trade America had a crucial part in, and the millions of slaves whose bodies were bought and sold in this country to build the infrastructure we enjoy today. I’m not proud of the continued treatment received by Black Americans for the next 150 years after slavery has ended, which rears its ugly head on a daily basis today through systemic racism. I’m not proud of how the rich trample the poor, in the same fashion they have since the country’s inception. And most of all, I’m not proud of how one half of our political system bred a group of domestic terrorists and unleashed them on the nation’s legislators on January 6th, 2021.
Yesterday, the country watched in horror as a handful of woefully-prepared and ill-equipped Capitol Police were swarmed by a raving mob of Right-Wing Supporters, sent there by the sitting president himself. This group was comprised of both the frothing-at-the-mouth variety radicals, and the naive, easily-misled citizens who have followed the 45th president due to mistakenly seeing him as some kind of “political outsider” who will save them from the evils of the mainstream political establishment. There are many questions, for security officials in the Capitol Police Force, DC Metropolitan Police, and Federal Law Enforcement. Why was the security staff so ill-prepared, with such little personnel visible? Why did it take hours for backup to arrive, both from DC National Guard as well as Federal agencies? There are more insidious questions to ponder as well. Why were the protesters seemingly allowed into the Capitol with little-to-no physical resistance? Why were officers seen opening barricades and taking selfies with the rioters? How come rubber bullets, tear gas, tasers, and other Less-Than-Lethal weaponry was nowhere to be found when American Democracy was under attack?
As has been said thousands of times over by now, we all know if this was a Black Lives Matter protest outside of the Capitol, all of these weapons would be used. And yet, when the Capitol Police had the chance to deploy any kind of major deterrent against this angry mob of insurrectionists, they simply retreated, with one video showing a lone guard with a baton trying to defend a doorway from the crowd. Another showed a different officer spraying rioters with mace, which was seemingly an isolated incident when it comes to the use of deterrents.
This makes me irrationally angry. It should make us all angry. The American military-industrial complex is one of the most powerful forces in the world today, with our country having such an astronomical defense budget that completely dwarfs most of the rest of the world. Yet here, the world got to witness how simple it was to neutralize our Capitol defenses and strike at our elected representative legislators. The world has responded, too, with the overwhelming message that this riot was not “American” in any sense. It was an outrageous breach of physical barriers, but more than that it makes our country seem like an illegitimate, banana republic.
Not only was the Capitol incredibly easy to breach, so far the insurrectionists have been mostly let off the hook. There were a limited amount of arrests, with less than a handful executed during the riot itself. Most of them came after the citywide curfew that started at 6 PM EST. Several videos showed protestors casually strolling out of the building, with a couple of officers holding the doors open, simply letting them walk away from a building they assaulted and looted. A day later, amidst the aftermath, the FBI and other Federal forces are attempting to identify individuals involved to potentially arrest them. Many rioters, foolish enough to not even wear a mask (in the middle of a pandemic, no less), were live-streaming their crimes on social media, and are now attempting to scrub their feeds of the evidence now that they realize the severity of their actions.
Tragically, this incident has led to the death of four individuals, most prominently “Ashli Babbit,” a 14-year Air Force Veteran. Her social media displays the outlandish yet apparently powerful propaganda spewed by the far-right. It is still unclear specifically why she alone deserved the lone show of force during the storming of the Capitol. The rest of the Law Enforcement Officers involved seemed totally impotent; incapable of using Less-Than-Lethal force to prevent a massive security breach, but somehow one officer able to use Lethal force on a lone rioter. The only possible justification in my mind would be if she posed a direct threat to lawmakers, which has been discussed, as they may have been in the hallway she was attempting to breach. However, that situation begs the question, why were they allowed to get that close to our elected representatives?
Finally, what does this mean for our country, and our democracy? I myself was personally worried for the representatives I have elected to represent me. These are the members of government we have a direct hand in putting into power. The Legislative Branch has an especially direct relationship with the people of the United States, in that We The People choose them to represent our communities. There is something extremely deplorable and asinine about the way our elected officials were put in harm’s way yesterday. Imagine a group of the Proud Boys, or Oathkeepers, or simply a mob of individuals who were a little better armed, and a little better organized, attacking the Capitol during a session of Congress. If the situation went just a little worse yesterday, we would probably be looking at dead and wounded elected officials, like many of the countries we have invaded over the decades. God forbid this ever happens on US soil, but after yesterday we simply cannot ignore the possibility of it happening. January 6th, 2021 will always be known for this terrorist attack on our country, and for the commander-in-chief, who will remain unnamed, that incited it. I will remember this day personally as the day I lost faith in the concept of “law and order,” and it sure as hell doesn’t give me any pride for my country.
