Capitol Riots and a message to young people: “Stay optimistic”
All over the news yesterday afternoon was the scene of thousands of Trump supporters in violent demonstrations, breaking into the US Capitol Building.
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Inside, the electoral vote confirmation proceeding was taking place. Due to an objection to the count, the electoral college and congress were broken into the committees for debate. These debates were taking place when the rioters broke through the windows of the capitol building and paraded through the halls.
Photos and videos aired showing a rioter standing on the President of the Senate’s chair, declaring Trump as the winner of the election, and another sitting with his feet up on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s desk. Members of Congress, the electoral college and others present at the debates ducked down to protect themselves from being shot at.
One person was shot and later died during the riots.
These violent protests began after President Donald Trump made a speech falsely claiming that he had won the election and urging his supporters to protest the electoral vote confirmation.
“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump said. “Our country has had enough. We’re not going to take it anymore.”
Later, in a one minute video, Trump again made the false claim that the election was stolen and told the protestors to go home, adding that he loves them and that they are special.
In an interview with a reporter for hhstoday, House of Representatives Member Charlie Crist said that he believes Trump incited the riots in the speech earlier and that he handled the situation completely wrong.
“Trump should have immediately called for calm,” Crist said.
Crist was at the Rayburn office for the House of Representatives, across the street from the capitol building, when the riot began. He planned to return to the capitol to cast his vote in the electoral proceeding after the debates finished.
“It’s unbelievable and very sad,” he said about the events. “I can’t believe this is happening in the United States, the greatest country on the face of the Earth.”
Crist wants the younger people who witnessed on the news what happened at the capitol building to make sure they participate in democracy when they get the chance, as it’s this generation’s turn next to protect democracy. “Just pay attention,” he said. “Don’t be demoralized and stay optimistic.”
When the capitol riots took place, it was clear to me immediatley that I needed to report on it for our website. Being in charge of the yearbook and newspaper as well, I've struggled with making the website a place where students can visit for breaking news. Thats always what I wanted, but its a difficult task.
One of the most important things for doing that is finding a way to give readers a reason to read this story on our website, most likely by localizing it in some way. I knew this event was important, likely to be in the history text books a decade from now, but I needed to make that clear to the students at the school. Another difficulty is making it accessible to our population. Not everyone is going to make it to the end of an article with the vocabulary of an Oxford scholar.
I called both Kathy Castor and Charlie Christ, the representatives for our area that night and left a voice mail. Charlie Christ called me back almost ten minutes later, available for a short conversation. He really wanted to emphasize that the young people paying attention shouldn't lose hope.