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Insight News
January 11, 2021 - January 17, 2021
Vol. 48 No. 2• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer
Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Building locked down as lawmakers flee chambers By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia Thousands of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as Vice President Mike Pence presided over the Electoral College vote. Carrying Trump banners and American flags and chanting “Stop the Steal,” the protesters blasted their way into the hallowed halls, breaking windows and shoving Capitol police aside as they sought to push the mob back by unleashing pepper spray. The protesters responded with force, successfully breached the building at several locations. Once the protesters were inside, security hustled Pence away and members of Congress barricaded themselves in various offices. Gunshots also rang out in the hallway near the chambers and more windows were shattered throughout the building. An unidentified woman inside was shot in the neck and later died. The National Guard
joined the Secret Service, FBI, Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department at the scene. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Thursday, ordering all but essential workers off the streets. Nearby agencies from Virginia and Maryland were also called to assist in quelling the melee. Del. Jazz Lewis, senior adviser to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), worked from home Wednesday and didn’t have to travel to the District. “Unfortunately, my colleagues are all barricaded in the office … for their safety,” said Lewis, who represents Prince George’s County’s 24th District. “I am texting back and forth with them to make sure they are fine. They are good. They are shaking up and scared. No one could have anticipated something like this.” Lewis said late Reps. John Lewis and Elijah Cummings “would be crying right now. This is absolutely ridiculous.” Although Lewis supports law enforcement in protecting the city and Capitol building, he said the protests
by Trump’s supporters reflect a double standard in America. “I do believe if this was Black Lives Matter, then people would have been harmed. It’s not fair,” he said. “We need to start taking these groups [like] The Proud Boys and these white supremacist groups and treating them like domestic terrorists. You have no idea how they could escalate a situation.” Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan posted a notice on Twitter and ordered the state police to assist the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police to help with crowd control. “All Americans should be outraged by this attack on our nation’s Capitol,” Hogan said. “This is a heinous and violent assault on the heart of our democracy. I will not stand for this and neither should any American.” Prince George’s County police also sent officers on standby to assist D.C. police, said media relations officer Antonia Washington. “If activated by MPD, we will aid in securing the area for which we were called to assist,” she said. The protesters were heard frequently chanting, “We took the Capitol.”
Photos and videos of the surreal takeover flooded the internet. A bloodied and critically injured woman was wheeled out of the building, SWAT officers with automatic weapons traversed the halls and authorities reportedly discovered a bomb. While Trump continued to tweet, Presidentelect Joe Biden took to television and addressed the nation, condemning the violence and urging Trump to “act like a man.” “At this hour our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Biden said, adding that what unfolded was, “an assault on the rule of law like few times we have ever seen it.” The Democrat added that the uprising was tantamount to sedition. “The scenes of chaos at the capitol do not reflect a true America, do not represent who we are,” Biden demanded. “I call on this mob to pull back and allow democracy to go forward,” Biden said. “At their best, the words of a president can inspire; at their worst, they can incite.” He then called on Trump to “go on national
television now” to “demand an end to this siege.” The president later released a video asking protesters to go home, but still tossed gasoline into the fire. “I know how you feel, the election was stolen,” Trump said in the video. His predecessor, Barack Obama, condemned the unrest and excoriated Trump and the Congress members who perpetuated the claims of election fraud. “History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation,” Obama said in an issued stated. “But we’d be kidding ourselves if we treated it as a total surprise. “Right now, Republican leaders have a choice made clear in the desecrated chambers of democracy,” he said. “They can continue down this road and keep stoking the raging fires. Or they can choose reality and take the first steps toward extinguishing the flames. They can choose America.” The later it became, the more protesters appeared to arrive.
One estimate placed the crowd at about 10,000, while others estimated anywhere between 5,000 and 20,000. Even after police convinced some of the Trump loyalists to leave the Capitol, a large remnant of the crowd remained hours after the rally, prompting leaders from both sides of the aisle to describe the rioting as an unprecedented attack against American democracy. “Today’s violence will never change the results of the presidential election, lead to a second term for President Donald Trump, or interfere with the transfer of power to the Biden administration,” officials at the National Task Force on Election Crises wrote in a statement late Wednesday. “Protest is a fundamental right, violence and mob activity is not — particularly when the goal is to hinder the working of our democratic institutions.” The situation unfolded during what historically had been a peaceful transfer of power in which the Electoral College votes are certified in a
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Resolve, Resilience, Hope & Healing Culture and Education Editor
By Irma McClaurin, PhD “America, do not despair at the rising tide of elitism, incivility, racial, national and religious intolerance, and good oldfashioned racism and white supremacist thinking that has taken hold of our country at this political moment. We’ve endured worse and still we rose. America, do not despair, because for my 2017 New Year’s Resolution, I resolve, and ask every person reading this to do the same, to be filled with Hope and Optimism and the certainty that we will, through the Power of the People, forge a better, civil and more inclusive America for ALL of us in the present and in the future. Happy New Years. 1/2/2017 (http:// irmamcclaurin.com/2020remix-do-not-despair-america2017-new-years-resolution/ )
amny.com
President elect, Joe Biden and Vice President elect, Kamala Harris
Four years ago, to the day (January 2, 2017), I wrote the above resolute words. Now, as we face a pandemic death surge that shows no signs of abating and a faltering economy, a sitting sociopath President, and better than ever profits for Big Business in the midst of economic turmoil for the average citizen, now more than ever, I must reiterate that this new year of 2021 cannot be a time for despair. America dodged a bullet when its citizen of all political persuasions voted with undeniable resolve to change this country’s leadership. American dodged a race war when the majority of voting citizens, representing the broadest political spectrum, and invigorated by the political leadership of Black women, chose to disentangle themselves from the narcissistic, revengeful, hate-filled and hateful vision of Donald Trump. He does not get a second term to further dismantle the pillars of democracy, imperfect though they are. Yet, in this transition period, Trump
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