Letter: The invasion at the Capitol

(Original story here)

Jan 8, 2021 Updated Jan 8, 2021

To the editor: As a person of color in high school that has been following the Black Lives Matter movement very closely, seeing the invasion on Capitol Hill was horrifying.

This irrational attempt to have the votes from the election recounted was madness. Thousands of people rushed into the building breaking windows and were fought with zero retaliation from law enforcement.

This situation is disgusting when you put it next to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place this summer. These silent protesters were kicked to the ground, shot with rubber bullets, maced, tear gassed, arrested and some even run over. While BLM protesters were standing up for injustice, the Trump supporters were committing serious acts of vandalism, yelling at officers, backing them into corners — because of what? Because they believe the votes were wrongly counted? This isn't a protest, this is simply being petty because there has been no evidence of miscounting.

These cops just sat back as people broke into a federal building, and at least one even took pictures with them. But when protests involve people of color, the law enforcement's first resort is violence. It is absolutely disgusting that today's generation has to grow up in a world with such hatred toward other races. It has been like this since forever really, that white people are considered the superior race and this just proves that point even more.

Akira Harris, North Adams