By now everyone's heard about the riot at the Capitol building, but here in this article we have things that you may not know about already.
Image from wdsu.com
By now, most children know about the mob at the Capitol, but if you don't, here's what happened: on the 6th of January, President Trump gave a speech to his supporters, who then tried to get into the Capitol, where the votes for the presidential election were formally being certified. The people in the Capitol had to adjourn and evacuate, and the counting of the ballots was delayed but still certified, and President Elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on the 20th, though Trump refuses to attend. But anyway, want the nitty-gritty bits and pieces of the story you don't know? You're in the right place.
Let's start with the flags. There were three different ones they were holding: the Trump for President flag, the Gadsden flag, and the Confederate Flag. The Trump for President flag is obviously a flag that people will wave to show their support for Trump. The thing is, Biden's already been confirmed, and them waving this flag shows that they think Trump's telling the truth when he says it was a rigged election. That they think he has four more years in office. Let's face it: President Elect Joe Biden is the president elect. We've confirmed that so many times that it's quite simple now: Trump lost the election.
Anyway, onto the Gadsden flag. This flag is yellow, with a picture of a coiled snake on it, above the words, 'Don't Tread on Me.' I don't want to go too deep into its history, but in this day and age it represents conservative views of small government and the right to carry weapons.
Last, but in my opinion the most impactful, is the Confederate Flag. But the one I'm talking about isn't even really the Confederate Flag! The Confederacy had different flags to represent it, and this one was not one of them, only people adopted it as the new Confederate Flag, so today it represents the same values. And what are those values? White supremacy. See, the Confederate Flag was the flag the South used during the Civil war, and if you'll all remember, the war was mainly fought over whether to abolish slavery or not, the South being the part of the country that wanted to keep slavery.
According to The Guardian, 5 people died, but of the five only one was a police officer. Brian Sicknick was 42 years old when he died while "physically engaging" with people in the riot. The Capitol police officer died in the hospital. Although he was the only police officer who died from the mobs, many were injured. 35 year old Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was shot by a Capitol police officer, and also died. Another casualty of the riot was Benjamin Phillips. At 50 years old, he was a computer programmer, and reportedly died of a stroke. Kevin Greeson, a 55 year old, died from a medical incident that had to do with his history of high blood pressure. Greeson was familiar with the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, although his family insists that he wasn't there to riot. And the last person who died during the riot or because of injuries gotten in the riot was Rosanne Boyland. She died of a so-called "medical emergency." To be honest, I don't want to talk about death any more, but I'm afraid I still have to.
See, there was one more casualty. A Capitol Police officer named Howard Liebengood committed suicide a few days after this event. This is almost definitely linked to the riots, but what can I say about it? It's terrible, horrible, and so bad, but hasn't it all been lately?
So, you want more nitty-gritty details? I'll give you more nitty-gritty details! We should start with a comparison. Compare it to the Black Lives Matter Movement, for example. Compare the security in this situation to the security in that situation. And yes, I'll put a picture of a BLM protest at the end of this article so you can see just how different it is. These people got into the Capitol. In the protests in the summer they weren't allowed to get on the steps. Racism, my friends. It impacts everything. You see it everywhere.
Once the people got in, what did they do? I mean, I can't track down what every single person did, but let's just say some pretty bad things. There was this guy who broke in who was sitting in Nancy Pelosi's (Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House, so just know that she's important) chair with his feet on her desk. He scribbled a mean note to her, took a letter, and left. Now, I don't care if he denies this or adds a story of his own, this is pure indecency. Other people did stuff like that too, writing on her folders and breaking mirrors.
So, I've told you all the nitty-gritty stuff that I can find. What's my opinion on the riots at the Capitol? I think that some people have to understand that America is a democratic country in which we elect our leader, and the people have a voice. We have certified the votes time after time after time, and Trump refuses to admit he has lost. He's lost.
Comparison Between BLM Protest Security and MAGA Mob/Riot:
Image from The Guardian
What do you care about? Write an opinion piece and email it to us at info@dawnofink.com.