Capitol Riots from a Newton South Student Perspective

Written January 13th

It was 3:07 on Wednesday, January 6th, 2021; my zoom contemporary history class was winding down when my phone started lighting up. I was bombarded with banners of breaking news notifications. I quickly ran downstairs to my living room to turn on the news. Channel after channel, all stations were airing live, the complete and utter chaos and destruction happening in Washington D.C. The United States Capitol was stormed by massive numbers of angry President Trump supporters. The power of the news mixed with social media allowed me, along with the entire world, to immediately learn what was going on. The intentions of the rioters were to show support for President Trump, show their disapproval of Biden’s win, and the hopes of preventing Congress from counting the electoral college results.

This was not a peaceful protest. This was an illegal act of domestic terrorism—a direct attack on our nation’s capital as well as our democracy. As the scary scenes and images flooded the airwaves, my classmates took to social media to pose various questions while grappling with the many emotions faced while watching this. Such as, what would have happened if the rioters were black? While there is no straightforward answer, lots of people have their own thoughts and viewpoints.

From climbing the outside of the capitol building, barging inside, defying Capitol police orders, to the destruction of property in private offices, countless disturbing incidents took place, much of which was unrelated to the presidential election. There were various disturbing anti-Semitic shirts and sweatshirts worn by rioters. One of them read “Camp Auschwitz” (Pitofsky). Auschwitz was a concentration camp in Poland that killed over 1.1 million people, most of whom were Jewish. A different shirt read “6MWE,” which stands for “Six Million Weren’t Enough.” A viciously cruel statement meaning he wishes more Jews had been murdered (Sales). This is beyond insensitive, hateful, and despicable language that must not be tolerated. Then there was the memorable scene of Richard Barnett, a self-proclaimed White Nationalist from Gravette, Ark, proudly sitting in Nancy Pelosi’s office with his feet on her desk smiling for a photo with pride and accomplishment (Swaine). Mail and folders full of important private data were scattered all over the floors. There were also many stolen items, such as historic picture frames, podiums, laptops, and even data.

The next morning was not the usual and typical school day. Students and teachers alike were filled with sadness, rage, questions, and confusion. Instead of our regular learning, we spent our time sharing our feelings and thoughts in hopes of being able to process what happened. Teachers were compassionate and patient, allowing every student the opportunity to voice their opinions. It was therapeutic to be able to come together and engage in meaningful conversation.

Ultimately, the Capitol riots resulted in five deaths, injuries to both police officers and rioters, and numerous arrests (Aaro). In addition, and highly anticipated, President Trump was impeached just one week after the riots took place. This is the President's second impeachment in his term as president. No other president in history has been impeached twice. Despite the immense pressure on Vice President Pence to enact the 25th Amendment, he held his ground and didn’t succumb to the pressure. Subsequently, the House of Representatives voted 232 to 197, consisting of all Democrats and ten Republicans in favor of impeachment. The next step is for the Senate to vote with a ⅔ majority. If this happens, President Trump will be prohibited from holding a federal office in the future (Stahl). There is now a huge military presence around the country as threats continue to mount at other state capitols and for inauguration just under a week away.