Yesterday Was a Violation

View of the Capitol Building, which was attacked by domestic terrorists on Jan. 6, 2021, where four people died while Trump supporters, urged on by the president, stormed the hallowed halls of Congress and defiled democracy. (Photo by Drew Angerer/via Getty Images)

I’m going to make this short and sweet today, but I promise to follow up soon with my extended thoughts and feelings about all of Wednesday’s events — particularly the attack on the United States Capitol Building by domestic terrorists launching an insurrection. I know my last statement sounds overly dramatic, but as someone who was sitting square in the middle of yesterday’s events, I assure you, it is not.

At this moment, I am looking over at my door and a hallway filled with a make-shift emergency bag that is full of clothes, medicine, emergency toiletries and cat food for Georgie, who is also on edge due to the open carrier bag that has been sitting out for several hours. Sadly, these bags will all remain packed and in my hallway for the next thirteen days…at least.

I’m in a state of shock and I know this from the few other times in my life that I have experienced this feeling. While I was watching the events unfold with the rest of you, I suddenly found myself standing at my kitchen sink washing dishes in a daze and I don’t remember how I made the decision to do that. I saw that happen one other time — after my father’s sudden death, when we had to travel to Nebraska suddenly and clean out his home. My mother, who hates washing dishes, stood at the sink in a daze for hours cleaning every last dish.

There is so much to say from both the standpoint of my emotional experience and also from the perspective of what happens next. Then there is the need to do a logical break down of events, and where I believe we are headed both legally and politically. Those feel like such opposing propositions right now, and the last thing I want to do is cause any more stress or alarm by delving in to my very personal and emotional experiences from yesterday. For now, I will just tell you that I went from fear to rage to shock so rapidly that it was difficult to process what was happening, or make a solid plan about leaving the city — this is something that rarely happens to me.

I went outside yesterday, just before the mandated curfew was set to begin, to get a sense of it all and to read the energy around me in Capitol Hill. I needed to decide about whether to pack up my car and leave the city and settle my intentions on what to do. There is a guy in my building who smokes several times a day out in the back, and I ran into him as I peered around my neighborhood.

We exchanged shocked looks and I blurted out, “I don’t know what to tell my mother…she’s not here. She’s all the way in Arizona.” He nodded and pointed to the earbuds in his ears and mouthed, “my mother…on the phone now.” We both shook our heads again and I knew we were living the same day. I also realized it was okay to stay and that everyone in the city, around the country and likely all over the world was feeling this same way.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

When you're white you get an escort, when you're Black you get a bullet.

We must not overlook the crimes that were committed yesterday. We can not allow predominantly white, home grown terrorists to behave as if they own our democracy. Each and every person caught on video engaging in the seditious acts of tyranny yesterday must be investigated and arrested, if warranted. Black people are killed by law enforcement while innocently falling asleep watching movies in their own homes. We must not allow a double standard this egregious to stand and to represent us on the whole as a nation.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

Here are more thugs destroying thousands of dollars worth of media equipment that had to be abandoned. Someone needs to send the bill to Donald Trump so he can not pay that one, too.

There is video circulating, some of which I have re-tweeted, that appears to show Capitol Police helping some within the mob to enter the gates of the building. There is also video on social media, showing members of law enforcement, that were sent in to remove violent rioters, taking selfies and treating the perpetrators like they were waiting for a ride at Disneyland. I will continue to research these videos and get more verified detail on what really happened — I am not at a point where I can accept that the police were involved in coordinating this attack.

I am also not able to, and will never be willing to accept, elaborate pontification from members of the Republican Party, who bear the full responsibility of yesterday’s attack, making grand statements about decency and temperance. We are far past this option, and the ongoing game of pretending that farce is truth is not only exhausting, it is wholly unacceptable at this point.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

This rant by Lindsey Graham on the Senate floor last night, after insurrectionists comprised of conspiracy theorists that he has been fueling for years physically took over the Capitol Building, is too little, too late. He must bear responsibility.

I will be active on Twitter today, because it is kind of my familiar and safe place and I also want to help the many devoted activists who have already begun to compile spreadsheets of data to identify rioters from yesterday. If you want to do something to help, I would recommend subscribing to my work on this platform, or making a donation to the Washington, DC, area food banks, who were working diligently yesterday to get everyone off of the streets and to safety.

I will continue to assess all of these events and bring you the critical facts and details, but for now, I am choosing to focus on this scene from early this morning, that is captured in the video below. Congress formally accepted the vote counts from each state, after Josh Hawley (R-MO) and other insurrectionist Republicans continued to waste everyone’s time for several more hours. This video in the tweet below is a great place to start and put your focus for a few minutes if, like me, you are having difficulty assessing what just happened to our country.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

At 3:45 am this morning, nearly 21 hours after the proceedings began, Congress confirmed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the next President and Vice President of the United States.

Talk soon,

Amee

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Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.