Jan. 6, 2021, specifically in Washington, D.C., is a day that will live in infamy. The United States faced an attack that was as deadly to the psyche as the attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. It was deadly and devastating.
It was deadly to the American psyche because it took more than lives; it took the innocence of this country which was wrapped around the idea that this Republic was invincible. It was devastating because the attack was not from a foreign foe, but from within.
It was so devastating because the attack was by the very individual who almost four years earlier promised to protect and defend the Constitution.
The president of the United States on Jan. 6 dealt an almost lethal blow to this great city on the hill, to the light of democracy, to the greatest nation that has ever existed. On this day our president lay down the defense of the nation and decided to carry only the selfish advancement of his own erratic and unconstitutional personal desires.
On this day not only did we finally see, for those who were not blind, the actual reality that the emperor really has no clothes, but we also witnessed what I have always argued against, the fact that there are two Americas.
I myself had to face the fact and ask myself the question: What if those were black faces that were breaching the Capitol? Was the Capitol breached so easily because the faces were not threatening because of their color? Would more protection have been planned if the faces looked like mine? Were the defenses of the capital relaxed because those that were coming to dinner were more acceptable and less threatening than me? Well, guess who came to dinner!
I have often preached to young Black Americans that you never say that this is not my home, because if this is not your home you are a visitor. Therefore the people that are at home can put you out and if you are a visitor you will never have the same rights to that property as the people who say they are at home. I have always said that you cannot put me out because I am at home. On this day I do not believe that if people who look like me had threatened the very seat of the democracy while the sitting president and the 535 leaders of our country were in session, that we would have been treated as kind.
On this day my president failed me. On this day my country told me by the actions of the Capitol police that I am a second class citizen.
But on this day, and into that night until the next morning, my country persevered and this republic continued on in the face of domestic terrorism incited by the one who swore to protect it.
Our forefathers warned us that there will be men drunk with power who will try to seize power and that some would choose party over country, but our systems of checks and balances held!
On this day we were made aware of the imperfections that make up our country. We are reminded that unfortunately there are two Americas. We are reminded that this thing called freedom is not stationary or free; it is fluid and expensive. Time changes the people who hold power; therefore, our freedoms are always threatened and require vigilance.
This day should not be just a day that will live in infamy but America, sweet land of liberty; if we love this republic and we love our freedoms, that day better live as a warning, and that is our revelation.
Michael Graves, Burlington
