Warning: This is a rant! And I am including no pictures of the invasion of the US Capitol because I don’t want to add to the attention the terrorists are getting. We’ve all seen them.
Yesterday’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol feels very personal to me. Capitol Hill was my home for at least five years: I worked and lived there, in the shadow of that splendid dome, noticing the light atop it when Congress was in session. I was in and out of the Capitol building innumerable times, to watch various electrifying or boring moments in the chambers, or to see LBJ lie in state along with a mile-long line predominantly made up of African Americans. On July 4, I walked to the front of the Capitol steps and perched there, gazing all the way down the Mall to the Washington Monument bedecked with fireworks. Even though I was brought up by Canadian parents who cast a very jaundiced eye on U.S. politics, part of me believed in the idea of American democracy. No matter how undercut it was by racism, sexism and many other isms; no matter how founded it was in rapacious capitalism; there was still that idea of “by the people and for the people.”
Apart from my sentimental associations with the Capitol building, my years of study of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands gave yesterday a particular horror. The mob run amuck is disturbing enough – or the sight of people breaking glass and climbing into the Capitol. But here’s what really chills my blood.
1. The terrorists took down a U.S. Flag at the Capitol and put up a Trump flag. To me, this symbolizes the fact that Trump’s base buys whatever he says, no matter how far-fetched. Even after 88 judges have ruled that the election was basically fair, the base doesn’t believe it. They will follow Trump wherever he tells them to go – in this case, up the Mall to violate the sanctity of the leading symbol of our democracy, the U.S. Capitol, during a session of Congress. These people will not simply go away. How will they, and the President and Republicans who enabled them, be held accountable?
2. Law enforcement did not prepare for this completely predictable event. Almost a dozen law enforcement agencies have the job of protecting our Capitol and our democracy. For weeks and weeks, Trump has been building toward this January 6, fueling his most base base and their fantasies that the election was stolen from them. It was no surprise to anyone that Trump assembled a mob on that day. How could it be? He’s done everything but take out ads to bring them to Washington. As President, he just tweets and the world watches, or the media cover whatever he says. And among all the public officials whose job it is to be paranoid, to think ahead about the worst possible case and prepare for it, not a single one thought the Capitol should be encircled with law enforcement that day? They didn’t even have the Capitol police in riot gear, as police have been for numerous peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.
3. Once the situation began unravelling, law enforcement was shockingly slow to respond. The Capitol Police called for help at 1:00 p.m. The National Guard didn’t show up until after 6:00. Others arrived earlier – like the Secret Service and the D.C. and Montgomery County Police. Overall, the scene was confusion. Even the FBI’s SWAT team responded slowly, and it’s just a ten minute walk from the FBI to the Capitol if you’re in a hurry. It took almost four hours (about 1:30-5:30) before the Capitol belonged to the American people and our representatives again. Only after much damage was done, not only to the statues and windows of the people’s house. It’s to our heart as a nation, our permanent memories of public events that we all witness. The minute Donald Trump told the mob to head for the Capitol, any public officials who hadn’t been paying attention should have woken up. Is it really possible that the mob moved faster than police forces could have, if they had been deployed promptly?
One bit of video has stayed with me: an African American Capitol policeman in a narrow marble interior staircase, calling for help with one hand while trying to hold off terrorists with a baton in the other. They backed him up the stairs, and finally he had to retreat. They were in charge. I do not blame the individual for this, but the huge system of which he is part.
Some will say that the law enforcement system was merely incompetent, or couldn’t believe that anybody would hurt our Capitol (criminally naïve), or were overly focused on the Inauguration. NPR reported that Mayor Bowser didn’t want to overdo the show of force because of the nightmares with Black Lives Matter protests. If that is correctly reported, surely someone else could have brought her to her senses. We have to conclude that the far right has enablers everywhere in government, even within the U.S. Capitol. Otherwise, this breach could never have taken place.
4. The smashing of press equipment and the necessity to move the booth three times. At some point last evening, a CNN reporter said in a controlled but highly stressed voice that the press booth had been attacked and moved on three separate occasions. The terrorists insulted her and other reporters, and video shows a pile of cameras and other equipment. The free press is our second line of defense in a democracy.
How can I not think of Amsterdam under the Nazis? How Hitler was worshipped as a god, whose orders caused ordinary people to block out every other reality? How the police colluded with every aspect of the roundups and the Holocaust? How the free press was replaced by Nazi mouthpieces, and people only got real information underground? And most of all, I think of the period when good people like me hoped for the best as their country was taken away from them.
In the present moment, how can we ordinary citizens show our horror in a way that will deactivate these deluded followers of a would-be dictator? At the least, we need to press Congress and our new Administration for extensive prosecution and aggressive investigation of all the individuals and groups who fed this situation. And that includes the Republican Senators who had to be evacuated because of the recklessness they have unleashed. We also need to subscribe to independent journalist outlets (like The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Times) so that they can afford to pay investigative reporters to expose stories like these. And we need to re-assess the maxim “It can’t happen here.” It just did.
Mary, thank you for writing this and for sharing it. You beautifully articulated the situation, the whys behind it, and the implications for our future. So many people are claiming to be surprised by yesterday’s insurrection. Though appalling and sickening, it was not surprising. It was clear four years ago that we were on a path to this, and certainly the last two months gave us almost daily warnings. We must learn the deeper lessons of our vast denial and obliviousness. Thank you for your continued vigilance and eloquence.
Thanks, Donna, for your continued insistence on kindness in our public and private life. Your posts and your book are always inspiring, and remind me that the “us vs. them” thinking isn’t going to get us very far any more. Although how we reach across this particular divide is a mystery to me. I welcome your thoughts.
Oh, Mary! I’m still in shock and so freaking mad I could spit. I’m just coming out of the very low state I’ve been in. So I am a little stronger facing this than I have been. Because Biden/Harris will be in soon and we have the House and Senate. I contribute every month and have for quite awhile to SPLC, hoping that they and ACLU can help get us straightened out. We are going to have to stay aware and stay together and keep working to save our Country. Love you, thank you for keeping me afloat these past few years 😊😘
Pamela, we are all still in shock, but not everyone is as dutiful as you are in posting the truth, following up and being dogged in your pursuit of justice. I support those organizations too, because they help bring these far right extremists into the light and make them accountable. Thank you for your awareness and for connecting with me and so many others. We’ll all keep each other afloat!
Thank you Mary,
For these measured and strong words and for your heart, research and writing that preceeded them. I keep thinking, if little old me saw this coming from a mile away, feared it daily for weeks, there is no way that those in power, who’s job it is to watch and be ready, didn’t predict it. Which leaves me the conclusion that this was theatre. Toxic, dangerous, uncontrollable theatre. Our “leaders” are playing with fire in our house and they are going to burn it down if someone doesn’t take away the damned matches.
Kathryn, I appreciate this acknowledgement and also your extending the idea that this was theatre, but of the most dangerous sort. Maybe the matches will be taken away before some new disaster befalls us. Thanks!
Dearest Mary, Thank you for thoughtful reflections. I have such deep appreciation for your clarity, passion and knowledge. Yes, the assault on the US Capitol indeed brings back painful memories for those of us who witnessed the Nazi assaults in Amsterdam and other European cities during WWII. I have been too overwhelmed and angry to find my own words. Yours are helping me find my center and perhaps my voice again. With deepest gratitude and love. Hendrika
Hendrika dear, you have told the Amsterdam story so well from your standpoint as a child in your powerful memoir, just as Laureen has from a different angle in her biography of Hans Calmeyer. You know so much better than I just how threatening this kind of behavior is. It’s so easy to find it too overwhelming even to speak of it. I am so glad you are finding your eloquent voice once more.
Thanks, Mary. You really summarized well the reality of the situation. I fear for the US and appreciate Canada – especially Nova Scotia- more each day. But I am not naive and realize that no matter where we live we must all be vigilant to the possibility of horrible, unjust things happening if we do not fulfill the necessary responsibilities of a dutiful citizen, no matter how inconvenient at times. and work hard to preserve democracy. With rights and privileges comes responsibilities such as maintaining truth .
You’re right, Bev, and I think the importance of being active citizens and participants in democracy is more clear every day. P. S. I have my fingers crossed that I will be back in my parents’ Nova Scotia next summer once more.
Thank you Mary for your thoughtful commentary. Yesterday’s happenings did not surprise me. In fact, I wrote five weeks ago in my “overview of 2020”: “Donald Trump . . . is still doing as much harm as he possibly can, before leaving office. I shall be glad if there is no bloodshed during the next weeks of transition.” So why are people so surprised? I think it is because they have this set idea, that what happened yesterday in Washington D.C. “is not America.” Well, it certainly is and has been all through US history. We better recognize that fact and assiduously cultivate the counter traditions of tolerance, fair play and democracy.
Absolutely. The U.S. was founded on the invasion of indigenous land, closely followed by the importation of enslaved people to cultivate it. This element of violence and colonial aggression is part of our identity. Fortunately, we do have other virtues as you point out. “Assiduous cultivation” is the order of the day. Thanks for bringing your wisdom to bear on this.
Thank you, Mary.
Thank you for your constant presence in articulating both our pain and our possibilities as Americans.
You do not let us forget what actually takes place and the consequences of ignoring what is actual. The constant comparison to the holocaust and the Nazis helps me see with a clearer perspective, although it also renders me sick to my stomach, aching with the horror of it. Your writing is for me far from a rant since it is is potent and fierce, and not aggressive. thank you always from the bottom of my broken heart.
Inside of you the Tree of Life continues to flower. its branches upward, reaching and its moisture nutrient roots seeking life force energy from below. thank you
Laura, you are for so many of us the quintessential storyteller, someone who has given her life to story and helping the rest of us learn how to study and tell them in a way that honors tradition and reaches to the future. When I was a child, my parents had a copy of the photographs from the Family of Man exhibit. “She is the tree of life to them” accompanied a photograph of a black mother with her two children. Somehow, we women must all be that tree to our country now.
Thank you Mary: I hope you can post your words in other outlets. I’ve been tongue-tied, shocked, and finally today dealing with my growing fear. We have not lived through something quite like this before but as you know my relatives have. Many would not live to tell their stories. That’s why we have to keep writing, talking, taking a stand when and if we can. I so appreciate your dedication to humanity, and especially what it really means to be free.
With deep admiration and love,
Sande, thank you for these very kind words. Yes, it is a frightening time for those of us who believe that “it can happen here” based on the past. That’s one reason why I find the Dutch story so compelling: there was a “civilized” society, so tolerant that it had been a safe haven for Jewish people since the Spanish Inquisition — and yet 80% of Amsterdam’s Jewish people were rounded up and mass murdered. After all those years of research, I still don’t understand — and yet, living through these years here, I am seeing something different than I ever saw before, or maybe it’s just experiencing it personally that makes it so poignant. And thank you for the call to action, too. We have to keep it up. Love and deep admiration right back to you.
Mary,
Thanks for the “rant.” We have so much life experience in common , so it meant a lot to me.
I too worked on Capital Hill. I was a human rights lobbyist for the National Council of Churches with my office in the Methodist building next door to the Supreme. Court. I remember bursting into tears the first time I stood in front of the Capitol building. I was surprised at my own deep reaction and feelings of patriotism. I’d been living in SE Asia for years and my view of our country from there was tarnished by experiencing the effects of our imperialism. But getting to DC, then walking the halls of all the office buildings, testifying in front of committees, and seeing bills passed in the Capitol made me understand how privileged and proud I was to be part of our great democratic experiment.
After Reagan was elected, I joined the mass exodus of Democrats and moved to Dachau, where I learned the history of the Nazis. I was particularly interested in the power of propaganda, how it operated in Hitler’s Germany, but also how it operated in 1980s peace movement there. I understood , after years of living in ( benign) dictatorships in Kenya and Singapore, how easy it is to lose sight of the truth when the press is heavily censored. I was brainwashed even though I “knew” in my heart that what I believed in my head wasn’t true.
I have many close relatives who are Fox, NewsMax fans and I see what has happened to them over the past four years. In their world, COVID is Still a hoax, The elections were rigged, and Biden is a raging socialist. There is no way to break through to their rational brains.
Anyway, I was not at all surprised by what happened at the Capitol, but I was still shocked and saddened by the mob and mystified by lack of police response. We both know this is not going to remain an isolated incident. I fear for this country as never before. As I wrote in my recent essay on Chernobyl and Covid (Green Mountains Review) , no one guessed that the nuclear disaster was the first rent in the iron Curtain and that just five years later the mighty Soviet Union would no longer exist. As another child of a Canadian parent, I am
Preparing for an exit.
Susan, This response is so profound that it is almost an essay in itself. And I appreciate particularly the link you and I have as people who went to work in DC when we were young and impressionable. Even though my first days there were as an anti-war protestor, I was awed by the Capitol itself, and over time came to appreciate the intricacies of what was then a fairly civil political process. Now that is almost gone. I am so glad that in Vermont we have Gov. Phil Scott, with whom I disagree on many things, but he has done a splendid job on covid and has been the first to call for the resignation of “that man in the White House” as people used to call FDR. Underlying all of these chasms and fractures is the question of how we are going to rebuild our country and our families again. And that I don’t know. I hope that we collectively figure it out.