January 6, 2021 is a day that will live in infamy. Trump supporters from all over the country gathered in Washington D.C to forcefully challenge the election results. This protest ended in riot and insurrection, with mobs storming the U.S. Capitol. The insurrectionists carried the Confederate Flag and chanted “Hang Mike Pence.” They built gallows with the intention to hunt, capture and harm lawmakers. The Senate floor was trashed, and pipe bombs were planted. This act of domestic terrorism (because that is what it was—terrorism) was finally quelled at nightfall, and public outrage was swift. Nationally and internationally, people expressed their incredible disappointment in the American democracy and the reticent handling of the situation. However, there were some that didn’t criticize the event, and instead began to compare it to the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer. Let’s contrast the two.
The majority of Black Lives Matter protests were just that. Protests. 93% of the Black Lives Matter assemblies were peaceful, and anything violent usually happened after the rallies were already over. In fact, the majority of BLM leaders distanced themselves from the riots and their instigators. We, as Americans, have the right to a peaceful protest—a nonviolent demonstration with the intent to create real (typically social justice) change. A riot is a step further, defined as a group of people acting in a violent or terrorizing manner with a common goal in mind. What happened in Capitol Hill was not a protest. It wasn’t even a riot. It was an insurrection. It was “a violent uprising against the government,” as Merriam Webster defines it. Unlike riots, insurrections aren’t unrestrained and spontaneous. They are planned out, just like the event at Capitol Hill was. And when you weigh peaceful demonstrations that rarely occurred in violence and a literal revolt against the country, which seems worse? Neither should be condoned, but there is a difference between vandalizing a random Target and the Capitol building of the United States of America.
Another major difference between the Capitol insurrection and the BLM protests is the police reaction to each event. On January 6, the domestic terrorists used force to enter the Capitol building, and then roamed practically freely through the halls, trashing and demolishing as they went. The mostly white crowd took selfies, bust open doors and even went through and destroyed the belongings of congressmen and women. On the flip side, last June, Black Lives Matter protesters arrived at the exact same location to peacefully demonstrate against systemic racism and advocate for social justice reform. These people were met with rubber bullets and tear gas. This double standard is what exemplifies the starkest contrast between the two events.
In the end, though, even if you ignore all the previously stated inequalities, what matters the most are the intentions of the two movements. The Black Lives Matter protests occurred because those involved wanted to fight against the injustices that African Americans have been facing in America since the dawn of this nation. The Capitol insurrection occured because those involved lost the election.