All Politics Are Local Jan. 6, 2021, in words and images By City Paper Contributors Photographs by Darrow Montgomery and J.M. Giordano
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J.M. Giordano
he Capitol dome sits atop a hill, a symbol of American democracy for everyone except the actual residents of D.C., taxpayers whose representation in its marbled halls is limited to one nonvoting delegate. For Washingtonians, the complex is an office, a place to renew a credential or visit with out-of-town guests, to appreciate Frederick Law Olmsted’s landscaping, or rest on cool, soft grass of the West Lawn. More often than not, it’s a place we pass without entering when cutting from one side of the Hill to the other. Occasionally on one of those shortcuts, a Capitol Police officer might stop you for reasons unknown and advise you to walk around, further removing you from the halls of power. And yet, watching rioters storm the building and break windows to dispute the outcome of an already decided presidential election felt inherently personal. We may not have much of a say in what happens in Senate, but this is our town. How, after a summer when police kettled peaceful protesters standing against racism and brutality and the National Guard forcibly cleared Lafayette Square so the president could take a photo, did this happen? Did local leaders really not pay attention to the warning signs? Were the Capitol Police underprepared? Answers to some of these questions have become clearer in recent days, but the hurt—the loss of life, the spread of COVID-19 cases, the compounded ache of fear and hopelessness—remains. In the following pages, we’ve attempted to make sense of the past week and figure out what happens next. Where we go from here isn’t clear yet, but if the words of our readers, which you’ll find throughout this feature, are any indication, we’ll forge a path forward together. —Caroline Jones
14 january 2021 washingtoncitypaper.com
