A Capital Conundrum:

Jan. 6, 2021 will be a day that forever lives in infamy. 

At approximately 2 pm that day, supporters of 45th president, Donald Trump, broke into the nation’s Capitol in protest of the electoral vote count that would demonstrably favor now- President Joe Biden.

Rioters smashed windows, sat at the desks of Senators, assaulted U.S. Capitol Police, and made a mockery of America’s democracy. 

In what can only be described as an insurrection, or a violent uprising by citizens against a government, the United States Capitol was besieged for the first time since 1814.

Understandably, the people of America were outraged, even more so when discovering the hypocrisy of police responses. Just last June, peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in DC saw an entirely different side of law enforcement.

“When Black people protest for our lives, we are all too often met by National Guard troops or police equipped with assault rifles, shields, tear gas and battle helmets,” The Black Lives Matter Global Network said. 

“Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been tear gassed, battered, and perhaps shot.” 

As an American watching the events of Jan. 6 unfold, I couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. What had happened to the beautiful country I had heard such great stories about in my youth? 

Although the past four years have worked well to shatter my naïve perception of the United States’ perfection, I still have hopes that we’ll be able to right the wrongs of our recent past.

On Jan. 20, Joe Biden was officially inaugurated, and we have already begun to rebuild. 

In the mean time, the terrorists masquerading as patriots must continually be held accountable for their actions and arrested. 

Serious analysis of police and National Guard response to the riot should be used to right the hypocrisy the American public has continued to witness. Only afterwards can our nation truly heal.

2021 was supposed to be an escape from the disasters of 2020, but Jan. 6 proved that assuming all will automatically be well is simply wishful thinking. 

Our problems are not magically solved, and drastic change must be implemented in order to prevent any further “bad luck” from seeping through the cracks between this year and the previous one.