“Congress itself is the target on the 6th. ... Stop the Steal’s propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike.”

According to a just-completed inspector general report, that’s the warning the U.S. Capitol Police got three days before the deadly Trump insurrection on January 6, which The New York Times calls “the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries.”

Yet the agency’s leaders downplayed the threat — saying on January 5 that there were “no specific known threats related to the joint session of Congress” — and prevented the unit in charge of large protests from using some tactics and equipment that could have turned back the Trump mob.

Meanwhile, police in cities all across America show absolutely zero restraint in meeting peaceful protest — of *their* racism and violence — with antagonistic, discriminatory, hyper-militarized, anti-democratic, and counterproductive shows of force.

Right now, police in the Minneapolis area — clad in body armor and driving armored vehicles — are deploying teargas, stun grenades (a.k.a. flashbangs), and other weapons at everyday Americans who have taken to the streets to collectively express their outrage and dismay over the police killing this past weekend of Daunte Wright (yet another unjustified killing in a seemingly unending series of extrajudicial death sentences carried out by law enforcement against people of color in America).

When everyday Americans, including large numbers of Black and brown people, protest police racism and violence, law enforcement responds with still more racism and violence.

But when willfully misinformed and openly seditionist Trump supporters plan and carry out an armed insurrection at the very heart of our democracy, law enforcement chooses not to gear up — even though they knew what was coming.

This double standard leaves everyday Americans and our communities less safe, furthers public distrust in policing, and is part of our nation’s current descent toward outright authoritarianism.

Congress held a hearing today as a next step in getting to the bottom of how the Capitol Police did (and did not) prepare for the Trump insurrection on January 6.

Tell your members of Congress:

The American people need to know what was behind the seemingly hands-off approach to the insurrectionist mob on January 6 and whether it was due to sympathy for the “Stop the Steal” cause and Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen. And we need you to investigate the double standard between how police dealt with the mostly white Trump supporters around the January 6 insurrection and law enforcement’s stunningly more aggressive and militaristic response to predominantly peaceful protests throughout the country against its own racism and brutality.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For justice,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe