Why am I not surprised?
Why am I not surprised that a bunch of entitled White men lead the charge and broke into the capitol building with so little resistance?
Simple – because both the building as well as the institutions within it were built by entitled White men. Although I should say that the capitol building itself was actually built for entitled White men by Black Americans who were forced to do so.
To put it bluntly – entitled, bigoted, self-important, and outspoken White men belong in the capitol building. That is who the building was designed for. They are just doing what White men get to do in America – flaunt the first amendment, even if it means terrorizing, vandalizing, and uprooting the establishment. We (as in White men) have always been taught that we should fight for our freedom. It is, and always has been our birthright as [White] Americans.
Bacon’s Rebellion? Led by a pissed-off, selfish, aristocratic White man who wholesale slaughtered Indigenous People any chance he got. The Boston Tea party? Angry white men dressed as Native Americans expressing their disapproval of high taxes. The Revolutionary War? White men shedding the reigns of their oppressors by setting up ambush attacks in the woods against the British. The Civil War? Angry White men fighting amongst themselves about how the U.S. “economy” should be run. Noticing a pattern? Our country is used to White men voicing their opinions as well as putting force behind them.
The same luxury does not apply to any other group in America. BIPOC folks and women have always been expected to play by our rules. Needless to say, a group of Black men breaking into the capitol building would have undoubtedly ended in a blood bath, even if not a single one of them were armed.
People of Color in America are not granted the right to fight for their freedom. White Americans prefer them to simply walk hand-in-hand while marching peacefully and singing “We shall overcome!” That’s what makes us feel safe. People of Color have learned the brutal lesson that in America, the minute that they decide to rise up and fight, bullets will quickly silence their voices.
The rioters that descended upon Washington D.C. were not doing something out of character – they were doing what their country has always allowed and encouraged them to do. Let’s stop pretending that America is the land of the free and home of the brave. Let’s stop lying to our children that America believes that all [people] are created equal – our actions have clearly shown otherwise. We have undoubtedly shown that in America, all lives do not matter the same. White lives still matter most.
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” – James Baldwin
