comparing
historical O
events
n Jan. 6 an insurrection took place in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. The mob, inspired by former President Donald Trump, gathered to protest Congress’s confirmation of electoral votes. The Capitol Storming took many people by surprise, but that surprise quickly turned to anger. Many compared the way the police reacted to the storming to the way they reacted to Black Lives Matter protests in the summer. “I immediately thought that if any of them [the rioters] had any melanin in their skin they would be shot 100 feet before even getting near the capitol,” senior Nora Gerami said. The Black Lives Matter movement has become a leading social justice movement in recent years. Seeing the difference in the police response in both cases is something that many students took issue with. “I felt like the soft response of the police and national guard on the day of the attack in contrast to the police response to BLM protests highlighted the disparities between the two Americas that exist depending on
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your race,” senior Ethan Sharp said. According to the Washington Post, the police did not arrive at the scene of the Capitol until at least an hour after the attack had started at the Capitol. In comparison, the police have almost always been present at BLM protests since almost the very beginning. With the numerous protests that took place in Kansas City over the summer, many students in the Lawrence area have the firsthand experience with harsh treatment from police. Junior Shea Dailey mentioned that she has friends who attended the June BLM protests in Kansas City. When she saw the difference in the response from the protest to the riot, she felt that it was really wrong. “After having close friends get tear-gassed and shot at [with rubber bullets] in Kansas City for peacefully protesting and then this happening without much pushback from the police is just so unfair to me,” Dailey said. According to the Washington Post, Capitol police made 14 arrests on Jan. 6 and another 69 rioters were arrested by police in the following days. During a June 1 Black Lives Matter protest, D.C. police arrested 289 people.
