Well, that was truly horrifying.
It’s hard to put appropriately into words — not to mention appropriate words — the grief we felt Wednesday as we watched our Capitol invaded. But we’re going to try.
From a historical context, seeing the battle flag of the Confederacy breach the walls of the national’s seat of Democracy; watching as rabid supporters of the outgoing president of the United States broke through barricades, pushed past the paltry police presence and descended upon an active session of Congress to disrupt the literal hallmark ceremony of our democratic process; covering our faces in shame, as concerned statements from around the world flowed in and backwards comments were made by leaders closer to home; it was a day unlike maybe any other in our history — certainly our recent history.
All day, we heard the same: This is not us; This is not America. Some more embarrassingly cried that “we,” as in fellow Trump supporters, “are better than this,” as compared to those who protested racism and police brutality over much of the summer, including occasional violence or destruction of property.
We’re afraid the evidence points to the opposite being true. This is us. This is America. And, quite evidently, we as a people are not “better than this.”
We’re not saying we can’t be better. We can, we have, and we desperately hope we will be better than this. But this — unconscionable rage, anti-democratic violence, dangerous rhetoric giving way to dangerous activity — has been a much larger part of our past than we’re often willing to admit, and it remains a significant part of our present.
Don’t say “that was awful, but.” Don’t say “but.” Just say “that was awful.” Period.
It does no service to compare it defensively to other protests and it does no good to begin to explain it away through whataboutism, or, much worse, excuse.
It’s not OK.
It’s not OK to lay literal siege on the house that holds the representatives of the people, especially not when they’re in it. It’s not OK to violently disrupt a parliamentary procedure because you don’t like the outcome of a legal election. It’s not OK to stage what amounts to an attempted coup.
It’s not OK. It’ll never be OK.
No amount of political frustration makes it OK. No amount of delusion, fomented and egged on as it was, excuses the actions of the men and women who did what they did Wednesday.
A person is allowed to believe whatever he or she wants in this country. They can believe, in spite of an utter lack of evidence and dozens upon dozens of dismissed court cases, that there was irregularity in our November election. They can believe it all they want, even though there’s no reason to do so.
But once someone takes that belief and uses it to justify attacking our most sacred secular national grounds, that is no longer a mere dissident, nor a mere conspiracy theorist, nor, surely, a mere protester.
Those are not the actions of patriots. They’re the actions of the opposite.
Whatever you want to call this demonstration of anger — we’re not willing to call it a protest — actions like these are intended more than anything to get attention. In that respect, like actual protests, this disgraceful action actually succeeded that far.
The summer’s protests attracted attention to the ongoing struggle people of color endure in this country in ways those of us in the majority have, at best, struggled to understand. We need to continue collectively to sit with that message and learn from it.
Although executed through different means, there was also a clear message to the action Wednesday in our nation’s capital.
As a nation, we need to sit with that message, too.
— Greeley Tribune Editorial Board is made of the following members: Jerry Martin, editor; Cuyler Meade, news editor; Lindsay Haines, events manager; Eli Horyza, distribution manager. Martin can be contacted at jmartin@greeleytribune.com. Editorial responses can be submitted to letters@greeleytribune.com.
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Greeley Tribune Opinion: Don’t downplay what just happened; it was bad, period - Greeley Tribune
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