{"id":368,"date":"2021-07-27T12:50:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T17:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arolnick.com\/hope\/?p=368"},"modified":"2021-08-05T10:19:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T15:19:52","slug":"insurrection-and-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.arolnick.com\/hope\/2021\/07\/27\/insurrection-and-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurrection and the Police"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This morning I decided to tune into the House select committee testimony on the January 6th capitol insurrection, despite avoiding much of the news about the insurrection over the last 6 months. I surprised myself with how deeply moved I was by the testimony I heard from the four police officers on their experiences. All the police officers’ testimony was brutal, emotional, and layered by the deep significance of the riot to our system of government and society<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, I was both shocked and unsurprised by the violent storming of the capitol, and more emotional than I typically am about the news. Indeed, I’ve consumed so much news and media that it is relatively rare that I feel deeply moved by it as a result. The images I was seeing of the Trump supporters fighting their way into the capitol building carrying weapons and confederate flags disturbed and angered me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, my initial energies were focused on trying to figure out how to introduce what was happening to my 8th-period Global Politics class. I decided it was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate methods of consuming breaking news since it was what I’d been doing for the past hour, and to provide some space for students to share their initial reactions, thoughts, and ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This went well, and over the following days, we discussed and contextualized the January 6th capitol insurrection in all of my classes, but since then I have kept my distance from much of the coverage. Although it seemed initially that the event might move many Republicans to push for a full accounting of what happened, the aftermath showed that to be optimistic. To avoid continually frustrating myself, I stopped following the coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, along with the fact that I typically don’t watch live testimony or news, might explain why I was so emotion-struck listening to the testimony of the four officers called to testify. To listen to the four officers testify, and to not feel emotion for what they went through defending the capitol building, is to lack empathy and probably also a sense of connection to some of the ideals most Americans hold closest about our democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, I was struck by the testimonies of Aquilino A. Gonell and Harry Dunn who both serve as capitol police officers and are men of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They related stories of crushing racial verbal abuse by insurrectionists, and Gonell, in particular, drew a link between how well prepared and reinforced capitol police were for Black Lives Matter protesters over the previous summer versus the preparedness for the Trump supporters. This was one widely taken up on social media at the time, as memes were shared of national guard members at the ready for BLM protesters versus Trump supporters overtaking the police<\/a>, and was something most of my students commented on. My students wondered why the police response was so different but believed they had an answer: white supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, to hear the officers’ testimonies is to be amazed by the cognitive dissonance of the people responsible for insurrection. The officers told stories of people carrying thin blue line flags and apparel raging against the officers protecting the capitol, violently attacking them with a variety of weapons, and calling them traitors. Each man who testified related a feeling of standing for democracy against some of the very worst of what America has to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I’m sure some police officers feel the same way about their actions in response in BLM protesters, the violence at the capitol led to 140 injuries, and a great deal of physical and emotional trauma as police officers believed themselves to be the final line of defense between the insurrectionists and members of congress who they assumed would be kidnapped or killed if they were unable to hold their respective lines in a literal and symbolic assault on American democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have sometimes wondered how American I really am, believing as I do in the importance of common humanity above national borders. Whenever I travel, I realize I cannot escape being American. It is a fundamental part of who I am, even if I sometimes wish I could avoid being stereotyped as a destructive and obnoxious American (to be fair, I’ve met plenty of people who were very enthused to meet an American). When I participate in a protest, I am drawn to the potential of the American project to, as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, bend the arc of history towards justice. The testimony of these officers about this assault on our democracy sheds light on those who seek to bend the arc of history towards injustice, and reminded me again that despite the flaws and arrogance of our country, an idea of America as a force for what is right and good is resonant deep in my chest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I decided to tune into the House select committee testimony on the January 6th capitol insurrection, despite avoiding much of the news about the insurrection over the last 6 months. I surprised myself with how deeply moved I was by the testimony I heard from the four police officers on their experiences. 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