How Non-Educated White Men Become People That Storm the Capitol
Demographic labels can divide people and a country.
On January 6th, 2021 I was sitting on the couch, still coming down from the holiday excitement. I was in my pajamas watching daytime television with my mom, who was still in town visiting. My four-month-old daughter was laying innocently between us staring intently at her hands.
My mom was preoccupied with her phone and turned to me, “Turn on the news,” she said concerned.
We clicked on NBC and couldn’t believe what we saw. It wasn’t that I couldn’t believe there were protests at the electoral vote certification, but that MAGA supporters were walking around the Capitol with little resistance from law enforcement. We saw American flags being lackadaisically dragged on the ground, confederate flags waving, and lots and lots of blue Trump flags. We’ve since learned that this isn’t the entire story.
Like so many people I saw what everyone else saw; hundreds of white-bearded men in American war paint, bare-chested and angry. I couldn’t turn away, but I didn’t want to watch either. There were thousands crowded around the East and West wings of the Capitol building, and something kept popping into my mind: “how did they get there?”
