Special Treatment Of Capitol Rioters Shines A Light On A System Of Privilege
We are not all from the same America.
Regardless of what state or territory you were born in, we are American citizens thanks to the Constitution, specifically the 14th Amendment. That is where the similarities between the lives of most Americans ends, though.
As the son of an immigrant father and a mother whose family has been in America since Texas became a state, I see being American from a first generation point of view and as part of my heritage. Unfortunately, both perspectives have had to watch as the country has been creeping towards an authoritarian state created by those who want to return to the “good old days.”
As can be assumed by reading this, I have spent my academic career learning about the institutions that have built the foundation of the United States government. It has many flaws, but has held strong for over two centuries, having survived both civil and foreign wars, civil upheaval, and outright corruption.
Through it all, it’s always been clear that we all do not enjoy the same definition of being American, though. There are two Americas that exist side by side, whichever one you were born into defining much of your life. Sure, there are always the exceptions, but that’s why they’re called exceptions; outside the norm.
There is White America and Everyone Else.
You’re probably saying, “Plenty of white people get screwed over, too.” You’re right, not everyone fits into a group exactly perfect, but there’s more to it than just the color of your skin. It’s the way people perceive us for not being a certain way that they see as more valid.
Have you ever heard someone say, “You’re so well spoken” to a full grown adult who isn’t white? That’s the difference between White America and Everyone Else. What they mean most of the time is “You sound like a certain type of White when you speak.” Anyone with a thick Southern accent who gets talked to like they are “slow” knows what I mean by a certain type.
It’s in the reaction that people have to names. Would you rather have an accountant named Robert William Smith III or Bonifacio Guadalupe Ortega Sanchez or Billy Ray Buford? Admit to yourself that you just imagined what each name probably looked like as a person as you read them.
This different treatment has been out in the open for a long time, but is all the more glaring in the treatment that different people have received for their role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Hundreds of people stormed into the Capitol Building, creating havoc and destruction in their wake. After all was said and done, five people died that day, with hundreds of police and rioters injured.
As authorities have systematically begun to track down those who took part in the riot, with hundreds of arrests already taking place, the treatment of those arrested by the justice system has been vastly different in various cases.
One of the most easily recognizable people who attacked the Capitol, Jake Angeli, better known as the QAnon Shaman, has reportedly been refusing to eat while in custody because he hasn’t been receiving organic food for his meals. DC District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Angeli should be accommodated because of his religious following of Shamanism.
The Washington jail where Angeli is being held said that they haven’t been able to confirm that organic food is even a belief of Shamanism.
Angeli’s role in the Capitol attack has been defended by his mother, who said, “It takes a lot of courage to be a patriot, OK, and to stand up for what it is that you believe. Not everybody wants to be the person upfront.”
Jenny Cudd, a florist from Texas, posted a video of herself from inside the Capitol saying, “F — yes, I am proud of my actions, I f — ing charged the Capitol today with patriots today. Hell, yes, I am proud of my actions.” Cudd then went on local television two days after the attack, seemingly taunting authorities to take her into custody, and said, “I would absolutely do it again.”
Her attorneys have asked for permission for Cudd to take a vacation to Mexico while she awaits trial for crimes against the United States government. She had “planned and prepaid for a weekend retreat with her employees” to Riviera Maya, Mexico, from February 18th to the 21st, and didn’t want to miss out on the fun. Prosecutors have taken “no position” on the requests, essentially saying they don’t care if she goes.
So, while Angeli and Cudd and various other people who took part in an attack on the Capitol building itself were asked nicely to exit the building and have been treated like they are being inconvenienced, there’s also Emanual Jackson. He also took part in the Capitol riot and has been charged with crimes along the same lines as other participants. Unlike many others, though, Jackson has not been granted bail, with many critics citing the fact that he is Black as the reason why.
Same crimes, different treatment.
Black Lives Matters protesters took to the streets across the country last year, including Washington D.C. With police and National Guard seemingly at every intersection, peaceful protestors inflamed by the murder of George Floyd by a White officer were bombarded with smoke bombs, pepper sprayed, and shot with rubber bullets before being arrest, so that Donald Trump take a picture at a church holding a Bible upside down.
Many of those in the crowd of protestors were White, but they were “liberals” who were standing up for people of color against systemic injustice. They dared to associate themselves with those people seen as Other.
White America; Everyone Else.
The sad truth is that as the country watched the events of January 6th unfold, there were countless people all thinking or saying the same thing: “If these people weren’t White, they would be getting shot.”
With reports coming out that federal prosecutors are deciding whether or not to prosecute these rioters aggressively or to give some of them passes, we should remember the names of all those people who never even had the chance to have their day in court for minor crimes that absolutely pale in comparison to those that occurred at the Capitol.
George Floyd. Philando Castile. Breonna Taylor. Nicolas Chavez. Daniel Shaver. Sarah Wilson.
They were part of the Everyone Else that are second-class citizens.
What about you?
