Criticism to police reactions toward Black Lives Matter vs US Capitol Riots

By Daze Williams

Racism has been around forever; there’s definitely no secret about that, but we still see it vividly today in our society. What happened at the Capitol January 6 showed the difference between how police and people treat African Americans and proved white supremacy is real. 

The Black Lives Matter Movement wasn’t about violence; it wasn’t about destroying communities and stealing from one another. It was about having black voices heard. 

Imagine police killing your people back-to-back without an explanation just because “they can.” After George Flyod and Breonna Taylor were killed, African Americans protested all around the world, but as soon as they even got “too close” to an officer or a building they were instantly shot by rubber bullets or had tear gas sprayed into their eyes. 

Meanwhile, this mob of caucasions marched into the Capitol Jan. 6 simply because Trump lost the election, and so far they have gotten away with every single thing they did, including stealing from the White House and killing five people, including a Capitol police officer. Sure, some have been arrested and face legal consequences—as well they should—but not one of them were punished with death.

Look at it this way: we have a group protesting to be seen, to be heard, and simply to live compared with a mob killing people over an election result, upset about a racist president losing the election—a president who doesn’t care about black lives or minority lives. 

Trump specifically called the African American peaceful protesters thugs, agitators, and looters. He even tweeted,  “when the looting starts the shooting starts,” May 29, 2020, just because of the color of their skin. 

When, at the Capitol, rioters stole multiple things and put them online to sell, their intentions were not pure at all. Their little “march” in the Capitol wasn’t a movement; it was a tantrum, and it was simply pathetic. Imagine if African Americans marched into the Capitol to steal. We all know for a fact they would have been murdered. They’ve been murdered for far less. 

Say their names:

George Floyd—I’m sure you’ve all heard his name—was a 46-year-old black man trying to buy a pack of cigarettes, who had the cops called on him for allegedly having a counterfeit 20 dollar bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived, George was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers. Why? I believe it’s deeper than just racism. I feel that intimidation plays a role in this. I absolutely believe that the number one main reason Caucasions treat African Americans the way they do, and kill them the way they do, is because they’re petrified of them and they’re intimidated by their dark complexion. 

Mr. Chauvin, the white police officer, kept his knee on Floyds neck for eight minutes and 15 seconds, approximately. Even after Floyd lost consciousness, for a full minute, Chauvin kept his knee on his neck.

Breonna Taylor,  a 26-year-old black woman, was shot and killed during a botched raid in her own apartment. Brett Hanksion, a white officer, pleaded not guilty for wanton endangerment of the neighbors, whose apartment was hit when he fired without a clear line of sight into the sliding glass patio door and window of Breonna’s apartment. No charges were announced against the other two officers who fired shots, and no one was charged for causing Breonna Taylor’s death. 

The crazy part about this situation is that police brutality has been going on since before I was born. Rodney King was beaten brutally by LAPD on March 3, 1991 and that was 30 years ago. 

To me, this just shows the injustice when it comes down to the system and black people in this world. Black people don’t get treated equally, and to be completely honest, we know they never will. Most Blacks come from poverty and marginalized communities, but that does not mean that they don’t pay attention to reality. 

White supremacists in elected positions are a dangerous  matter that comes with lots of consequences, and people in this country need to pay attention to that. 

However, needless to say, Blacks will never stop fighting for rights, for respect, for honor, and above all, for their people.