The fallout continues over last week’s storming of the Capitol building by a far-right mob as Congress prepared to ratify the results of the 2020 election.
It’s been a busy week. Here’s some of what I’ve been up to.
I wrote about an effort by a progressive coalition, The Frontline, to ensure impeachment proceedings were a success. You can read it at Blue Tent, where a lot of my stuff has gone up over the past few days.
"Last week, after a multiracial coalition achieved record-breaking participation in the Georgia runoffs, our nation witnessed a white-supremacist-led, seditionist attack not just on the Capitol building, but on the growing electoral power of Black and Brown people in our democracy," said The Frontline's Nelini Stamp, director of strategy and partnerships for the Working Families Party.
On Monday, I appeared on the podcast What is Stuff? hosted by my old college friend Jake Silberman and co-host Hunter Donaldson. Listen above.
And on Tuesday, I appeared alongside attorney Carl Williams at a virtual event hosted by Mass Peace Action about my reporting on the Boston Police Department body cams.
Watch it here:
Now, on to this week’s thoughts.
I didn’t know I couldn’t coup that
The rioters from last week's coup attempt are so used to getting their own way and walking through life without consequences that they're admitting to federal crimes.
Kevin Lyons, a 40 year-old man from Chicago, said "Wow, you are pretty good" after his attempts to lie about his participation in the riot were immediately debunked by FBI investigators. He later shared with the "Nice FBI Lady" incriminating videos of himself.
"I’m not worried at all," rioter Jake Angeli—who is receiving a special diet in prison—said in an interview with Vice News in which he casually shared he was talking to the FBI.
It was a similar story on the day of the insurrection.
“This is not America,” one woman said, according to The Nation. “They’re shooting at us. They’re supposed to shoot BLM, but they’re shooting the patriots.”
In a viral video, a woman named Elizabeth Kochs expressed surprised that police pushback would happen during a "revolution."
“I made it like a foot inside and they pushed me out and they maced me,” said Kochs.
The entitlement and privilege on display by the mob is evocative of Dave Chappelle's comedy routine about his white friend Chip, who cruises through life without a care in the world for how police behave, telling a cop, "I'm sorry officer, I didn't know I couldn't do that" after drag racing drunk and being let off.
That "I didn't know I couldn't do that" energy pervaded the mob that attacked the Capitol and their reactions since being caught—and while it's an amusing comparison, the reality of what the rioters were trying to do is far from funny.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley's office had panic buttons removed before the riot; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she was almost killed; Rep. Mikie Sherrill said there was a “recon” tour for insurrectionists led by some GOP lawmakers; and at least one man was arrested with multiple weapons intended for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A court filing against Angeli from the Department of Justice claims the rioters intended “to capture and assassinate elected officials.” And the more that comes out the more clear it is that the crowd was animated by bloodlust that quickly became directed at police once access to the building was impeded.
The attack on the Capitol needs to be seen as the dangerous, destabilizing moment it was. In order to understand why the band of small business owners, idle rich kids, off-duty police and military officers, and others felt they could walk right in without facing consequences, we need to examine what about the US has led to that point. Chappelle’s skit is a good starting point.
The "I Didn't Know I Couldn't Do That" Brigade