Striking difference in police handling of BLM and Trump groups
Let’s be clear about what happened on Jan. 6. According to the FBI, domestic terrorism is “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/ or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”
Did the people who invaded our Capitol engage in violent, criminal acts? Clearly, they did. Were they trying to further an ideological goal? Their purpose was to prevent Congress from confirming the results of a free and fair national election. The largely white crowd, which included any number of avowed white racists, that attacked a symbol of American democracy that day, unquestionably engaged in an act of terrorism, no less than those who carried out the attack on 9/ 11.
Law enforcement needs to treat their actions as what they were, not simple criminal violations, but acts of terrorism. Federal agencies have warned for years that right- wing and white racist groups, not antifa, not the so- called “radical left,” and definitely not Black Lives Matter, have presented the most serious domestic threat to this country. Now that threat has materialized. It is way past time to seriously deal with it, before what happened on Jan. 6 occurs again.
Mark Cohen, Denver
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The president deliberately and willfully incited a riot that threatened the safety of Congress, and all who were at the Capitol. He must immediately be removed from office as he has proven himself incapable, and indeed, mentally unstable.
It is painfully clear that because the criminal thugs who broke into and vandalized our Capitol were met with the almost non- existent response by law enforcement is due to the fact they were white — end of story. Had they been minorities ( BLM), there would have been an overwhelming police response. Now for a test of law and order — every possible effort must be undertaken to individually identify and fully prosecute every person involved in this insult to our nation. These people who may have felt justified in protest, are common criminals, who like their beloved hero, believe their wishes place them above the law; I look forward to them being proven disastrously wrong.
Thomas Holzfaster, Lakewood Re: “Stop this madness,” Jan. 8 letter to the editor
A letter writer’s attempt to draw a moral equivalence between the street protests of 2020 and the mob attack on the nation’s Capitol this week is deeply flawed. The Black Lives Matter protests were not a reaction to “misleading reports of brutality,” but to real, actual, verifiable video images of unarmed black men being strangled, kneed on the neck, and shot in the back by police officers. BLM’s intent was to agitate against racial inequity and brutality in policing.
The unhinged white mob at the Capitol were reacting to an unhinged president parroting false conspiracy theories, lying about the election outcome, and demonizing patriotic Americans serving as public servants ( including his own vice president). The D. C. mob’s intent was to stop a fundamental and sacred rite of the American political process.
The dramatically unequal law enforcement response to the mostly black vs. all white groups is also worth noting.
The looters and vandals of 2020 were the minority among BLM protesters, and were not attempting to overthrow the American government or reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Some of the tactics may have been the same on the fringes of both groups, but the motivations and intentions were diametrically morally opposed.