On the Domestic Terrorism at Our Nation’s Capitol

The riot that took place in our Nation’s Capital on January 6th, 2021 was a direct attack on our sacred democracy. We must call these acts of violence displayed on Capitol Hill for what they are: domestic terrorism, acts of sedition, and an insurrection.

This mob disobeyed police officers and engaged with them violently, broke into the Capitol Building, and sought to forcibly disrupt the Electoral College vote count for the Presidential election due to the unfounded belief that the results were fraudulent.

Let us be clear: the results of the election have been proven time and time again to be legitimate, secure, and otherwise not manipulated. 

This political violence is in direct conflict with our ideal “to raise the standards of morality and develop character” and our Creed. This violence was a direct attack on one of the main pillars of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power. 

Making this situation even worse is the blatant double standard in police response compared to the summer 2020 demonstrations after the violent police killings of several Black people. The latter never reached remotely near the level of destruction seen, yet was still met with much more police violence and arrests.