Graphic by Raj Brodie
Jillie McLeod
Opinions Reporter
It has been nearly a year since the horrific display at the Capitol—the one that canceled afternoon Zoom classes and had us all hovering around screens, watching in awe as our democratic governing body was threatened. This was January 6, 2021.
The events that occurred were a culmination of many things, leading back to the presidential election in November of 2020. Like most of 2020, the election was a hot mess: ballots were being cast early by mail and in-person; results from many states, mostly swing states, weren’t expected to be finalized until days after Election Day; and the country was extremely divided in their hopes. After the chaotic popular vote, where Biden was declared the president-elect, came the controversial electoral college voting process. During and after the election, Donald Trump held his stance that the election was stolen from him, using Twitter to inform his followers that democrats were “trying to steal the election.” Leading up to the electoral college vote, there was talk that radical Trump supporters would plan a protest/riot of some kind, yet the police and Capitol security were unprepared when the riot ensued.
The riots were intense. Protesters broke through barricades, pushed security officers to the ground, and released gas into the air. The inside of the Capitol was defiled. Nancy Pelosi’s office was broken into (everyone is familiar with the picture of the man with his feet up on the desk), and the Senate Chamber, where electoral college processes had been occurring moments before, was overrun with rioters.
Now, it would be easy to forget all of this. We could hide this event and say it was a small blip in our exemplary democratic union, but doing that would be dangerous. January 6th was an insurrection—it was a physical display of how fragile our governing body and systems are.
The rioters showed up to the Capitol that day with a goal: to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden, and they were successful in this task. They infiltrated the building and delayed the votes from being counted until many hours after intended. The success of their endeavor is scary. It was so easy for them to delay the democratic systems that our country prides itself on. The nation as a whole was vehemently divided, and when one group didn’t get their way, they were willing to disregard our country’s principles to do everything in their power to come out on top.
We have to remember the success of these radical groups and consider how easy it is for breakdowns within our governing systems to occur. The divides between groups in the United States are increasing, and with it, threatening our democratic government again and again. Our governing system is fragile, and the insurrection on January 6th demonstrated that.
