Three Takes on January 6th

I was there. I was in the Capitol Building. I was in the House of Representatives. This was authentic. This was what freedom from tyranny is all about. We the people. We get pushed aside and shoved down and drowned out but we won't be passive forever. Push us too far and we'll push back. That's what we're doing today. Pushing back against the Washington Establishment's government over the people as opposed to government for the people and by the people. What did the man say, 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Well, that's the situation here in D.C. and has been for a long, long time, and finally, we have an opportunity to change that. We have a leader, and he's not perfect but he's a means to an end. He offers our best chance going of purging the corrupt and venal political system that has entrenched itself to serve itself and not the Republic. He's gotten us the Court we need to re-balance the scales of justice. He's put the fear of voters into the hearts of politicians, On the other side, they say we've created a monster. Well, that's right. We have created a monster, because we need a monster to sweep away all the decadence and weakness of contemporary America. But as easily as we created this monster, we can bring him down, and he knows that. We take our cue from the English tradition where the leader ultimately must serve the people or else. Look what they did to King Charles [Charles I]. See how the British Monarchy has been taken over and converted to a museum piece for the public's entertainment. That's the power of the people acting over generations to recover their rights of self-government. We're not the cavemen you may have seen on TV parading around in the halls of Congress. We're not the beer-guzzling, gun-toting imbeciles who make the front-page news. Their function is limited. They represent a force for agitation against passivity, compromise and despair, but they are nonetheless a force under our control. Like our leader, they can help us bring on the change, but they represent, as does our leader, the means to a greater goal—liberty against the tyranny of faceless and nameless bureaucracy and the country club system of privilege at the expense of democracy. Long ago we heard from a different group the line that 'The Revolution will not be televised.' Today we appropriate that slogan and invite the oppressed from all parts of our society to join us. We are not white privilege. We are not modern-day Crusaders defending Western civilization against outsiders. We are the people whose masters are being repudiated, the people who are imbued with the desire for freedom, for political power, and yes, for economic power. We're not Communists, but we're not the servants of oligarchy past, present or future. That has to change, and we're here today to move one step closer to our goal, which is—let's make it crystal clear—about the redistribution of political and economic power and the eradication of undemocratic privilege. There, it's out there. Our enemies will fight to protect their advantage—we don't expect anything less—but let them know that we want—no, we demand—more and we demand it now. Write us off as disaffected white trash, but do it at your own peril. That is not who we are, and we will not be dismissed as such. And one final point, we are not here for photo ops and selfies and all such silly and childlike games. We are here for the long-term for we know what we seek is not just around the corner.

#

We expected danger, but not on the scale and with the ferocity and hatred that came at us. Some of us, myself included, knew—personally knew—some of the people in the mob, and man, we couldn't believe it. People who we thought were like us, law-abiding and patriot Americans, proud of the flag we respect and revere for its symbolic value and for the difference it represents between America and many other places in the world run by dictators and other enemies of the freedoms and democracy we have. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not perfect. I'm a black man. You don't need to tell me a thing. I know all about it ... the hypocrisy, the discrimination, the lack of respect. I've lived it for nearly 50 years. But that isn't the only side of America and it isn't even the dominant side. Things have changed a lot in my lifetime ... and, frankly I can't think of any other country where I'd rather live. I fought for this country and I still serve and protect, but I always told my kids that I did it for the America that was emerging from the darkness of an evil past. America is not the same as it was 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 150 years ago. As a people, we don't look the same and there's a lot that's different about us, but there's one thing that unites us and that's the community that we call America. Yes, I will fight for it. I will fight for it, because of all the good people I know who deserve better and who want to make things better. I don't recognize some of what I see in the crowd. What I see is a threat to my community, to America, and it is my job, but more than that, my duty, to protect my community come what may, and as the day goes on I begin to wonder just what it is that might be coming. I've been spit at. I've been cursed. I've been hit and shoved and even assaulted. And this by people who look a whole lot like the people I see in the stores, restaurants, concerts, sporting events, and even churches in the D.C. area. This is culture shock and I haven't even left the U.S.A. I can't begin to comprehend where these folks are coming from ... in such large numbers with such tenacity and venom. I can only imagine worse by picturing the prison doors opened and all the felons, murderers, rapists, child molesters turned loose against the public. It is frightening to watch your community become unhinged right before your very eyes. And there's no cavalry for this one. At least it has shown up yet. I wonder if my buddies and I will come out of this alive, because I truly fear for the worst. And America—is America seeing what's happening and how does it look on TV compared to how it feels out here on the street, in the cold, vastly outnumbered by people who mean harm? Do they really believe that they are patriots? Have they been so brainwashed that they can't see, can't feel what they're doing to the fellow citizens. I grew up during the Cold War, so for me I remember the threat of the Soviet Union. We're not the Soviet military; we're not the Soviet secret police. We're your neighbor's for God's sake. I've seen you in Kroger's. I see you in the shopping malls, I've seen you at the airport, in government offices and in restaurants and move theaters. I had no idea then what ill feelings you had towards me. How well you hid it. Oh God! I'm down on the ground. I have to get up or they'll kill me. "Officer down. Officer needs assistance. Over."

#

"Hey Jon, Stephanie, Max! Come look at this. They really did it. These Trump supporters have broken into the U.S. Capitol and there's nothing that the police can do to stop them. They must be outnumbered a 100 to 1. Good God! This looks like live footage from someplace ... like a white version of a 3rd World riot."

"Is this live? Is it happening right now in D.C.?

"Yep. It's live and it's just down the street."

"Thank God those people don't know about our offices on the lettered streets. Can you imagine?"

"Guess dinner's off for tonight?"

"Don't be stupid, Sam! This is a f___ing riot ... in America and in D.C. I was just in the Capitol Building last month and look at these people. They're animals."

"Why isn't the National Guard there? Didn't the Capitol Police anticipate any of this? This is crazy. We can't even defend our Capitol. Last time something like this happened was 1812, wasn't it? Wasn't that when the Brits came down from Canada and burned down the White House?"

"Yeah, but don't forget we burned down what is now Toronto first, and war is war."

"But we're not at war! Not with each other. We've learned to live in an America that can be attacked by foreigners—9/11? But we're totally unprepared for this kind of civil—"

"Don't get overexcited. This is a made-for-TV event after all. The President's been stringing his people along for months. It'll be like everything Trump has been behind—it'll fizzle out on its own."

"But how long will it take?"

"Well, if Trump is confronted, say by the National Guard or the U.S. military, God forbid, you know he'll back down. He'll figure out a way to make it look like he won this PR battle. He's done it for 4 years and his entire adult life."

"I don't know about y'all but I'm going to catch the Metro now and watch from home. I don't want to be anywhere in the neighbourhood when this gets uglier."

"Not a bad idea. Think I'll call the school and pick up the kids early."

"My wife is in the Capitol Building today. I'm not leaving."

"What can you do?"

"I don't know. I don't feel like pretending to be Bruce Willis."

"Good. That means you'll probably live."

"Jon. That was truly inappropriate. Kathryn is down there in the middle of all this. This is no time to be flippant."

"Sorry, Max, Wasn't thinking. It was a stupid comment."

"Just got through to the school. The kids will be ready for me to pick them up as soon as I can get over there. Take care everyone! Be safe, and God bless America—for real."