14 January 2021, NIICE Commentary 6655
Md. Farijuddin Khan
President-elect Joe Biden tweeted, on the January 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington D.C., “No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protestors yesterday that they wouldn’t have been treated very differently than the mob that stormed the Capitol. We all know that’s true – and it’s unacceptable.”
This is a frank acceptance of a shameful-truth by any leader of the United States in decades. A truth that was forced to resurrect from its dusty burial in recent times – thanks to the nationwide Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest-movement. In fact, the country known as the United States of America (US) was built on the foundation of racialized racism. It was established by a race at the expense of a weaker race centuries ago. Slavery, a once-upon-a-time celebrated racist institution, was abolished in the 20th century not by a national consensus but by force. As a result, the country has to face the untreated wound once again.
Siege at the Heart of American Democracy
What happened on January 6 at the Capitol was horrendous and disgraceful for sure. However, it is what it is. Americans have enjoyed democracy and its structure for generations. They have sold their country the image of a democratic-rich-civilized nation to the world, particularly, to third-world nations who have faced oppression, subjugation, alienation, and deprivation because of the structure they inherited. The American myth of an all-weather invincible democratic set-up was blown up at the Capitol by radicalised white-nationalists. What the world saw on TV and social media about the US is the uncured living-remnant of its true face. It only needed a narcissistic President to bust the myth and splash for the world to see what America is!
The invasion of the Capitol building that house the elected representatives of the country and defile various installations, including the name-plate of the House Leader, is unprecedented in the US history. One can raise many questions on the breach such as the inability of the Capitol Police, failure to anticipate, the optimum presence of federal law enforcers, and so on. However, the bottom line of the matter is the significance of the violent ‘insurrection’. The rage with which the protestors forced themselves inside the building, the way they behaved within the sacred institution, the cardboards they brought, the slogans, etc. all hinted at something deeper than what we saw. On a superficial level, they all indicate a wave of cumulative anger against the present political set-up which is, at least, sympathetic towards the cause of the African-American community and other American minorities. On a deeper level of analysis, it tells the story of American history shaped by race-relations.
The Face of Racism in America: How it feeds Trumpism and shapes the BLM Movement
Racism exists in the present United States in a milder and complicated fashion. The days of Jim Crow laws and ‘equal but separate’ thesis had long gone from the fabric of American society. The 1964 Civil Rights Act effectively nullified any segregation attempt among citizens and also criminalizes racial discrimination against people of colour, especially, against the African-American community. Clearly, the United States enjoys the status of a society where racism against the ‘black’ community has been codified as criminal acts. However, racism based on biological superiority (white) thesis still exists in large part of America’s hinterland. A milder form of racism does exist across the United States which often manifests by many white conservatives. Wrongful accusations of theft, picketing, etc. against the ‘black’ community is still reported in many states. The high incarceration rate of African-Americans is also a resultant factor of systemic racism in the US. Police excessive actions leading to the death of two African-American teens in 2012 and 2014 have rocked the United States in the past.
The recent killing of George Floyd saw a massive resurgence of the BLM movement which spearheaded nationwide protests against racial prejudice, police brutality, and injustice against the community. The protests were spontaneous in the beginning but it got channelized in the later stages to make it nationally and internationally. The chokehold killing was so brutal that mass protests had to be quelled using the heavy force of armed military and national guards. Counter protests against the BLM soon sprung up in many cities such as Portland, Seattle and even in the national capital by white far-right extremists such as the Proud Boys. Clashes and riots occurred in many places between the two, and also between the protestors and police teams.
Riding on the confidence he shares with white-majority voters in rural areas and pockets in major cities, President Donald Trump refused to condemn violence by white supremacists on national TV debates months before the November presidential elections. The election was fought less on party lines but more on the issue of Trump’s greatness and his fitness as the President of the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the planet. The January 6 storming into the Capitol was a cumulative result of Trump’s racist rhetoric and white supremacists’ uneasiness with the question of addressing racial justice to the African-American community and fellow citizens of colour. Donald Trump served himself as a catalyst to a reaction between a section that believes in a racialized America and another section that believes in American plurality. His role was to further radicalize the already hurt chauvinists who shut themselves from anything that triggers the thought of America being a land of mosaic cultural pot.
Now What?
The ‘insurrection’ was instantly termed as ‘domestic terrorism’ by experts on TV and social media and they have been charged of various federal law violations in many states. The mob came dressing as Vikings, barbarians, thugs, and uncivilized only to storm inside the building which their forefathers managed to build using ‘subhuman-slaves’ from Africa and elsewhere. A single mindless urge by a sitting President egged them on and the crowd ended up busting the biggest myth in history – an America governed by American Creed based on equality, justice, and democratically elected government of the people, by the people and for the people.
This is the story of a country that has promised democracy throughout the world, fought costly wars in alien lands to protect democracy, and orchestrated coups to topple dictators in foreign lands. This is a lesser known side of its true story. A country that loves to build the world in the image of itself!
