January 6: One Year Later

January 6, 2022

One year ago, a mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow an election that was free, fair, and probably one of the most secure in American history. I cannot remember another one, from history or memory, that was scrutinized so closely except, perhaps, the Bush/Gore election with the whole “hanging Chads” disaster.

The insurrectionists that broke into the Capitol building were not, are not, and will never be patriots for the violence they committed and the treason they engaged in. They are, frankly, a group of disgruntled, gullible people who were duped by a conman that can’t accept the reality he lost anything, let alone an election. I don’t want to talk about these criminals anymore today. I have to let the justice system take care of them now.

Instead, I want to shift my focus onto the true American heroes and patriots present that horrible day and the truth about what they were forced to endure at the hands of their own people.

On this day, Congress was to certify the results of the 2020 election once and for all declaring Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners. What happened was a mob, whipped up by the sitting president (at the time) at a rally in person and with online activities beforehand, marched from the Ellipse down to the Capitol building and breached it to stop the certification and hunt down lawmakers including the former Vice President.

My God, the pictures from that day are burned into my mind: A gallows on the lawn. A Confederate flag inside the Capitol building, which didn’t even happen during the Civil War. Antisemetic sweatshirts invoking one of the darkest, cruelest moments in history.

The police were overwhelmed; they did their best to protect those in their care. The real heroes were Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, Officer Eugene Goodman, Officer Michael Fanone, Officer Harry Dunn, Officer Brian Sicknick, Officer Daniel Hodges, Lieutenant Michael Byrd, Commander Ramey Kyle, and all the other members of the Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, National Guard, and any other law enforcement or security agency who bravely and selflessly defended the Capitol that day. Five people died; one was Officer Brian Sicknick. In the aftermath, at least four more officers, Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida, Metropolitan Police Officer Kyle DeFreytag, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, and US Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood, took their lives because of the atrocities they endured on January 6, 2021. One hundred forty officers suffered injuries, some leaving permanent, constant reminders of the “hugs and kisses” received from the “tourists” from Hell.

And the screams. The screams of Officer Daniel Hodges being crushed in a doorway; the screams of officers begging for help and not receiving it until it was well past too late. After order was finally restored, I remember hugging my mother outside our house on our walkway. She held me close and said, “We just lost America. I’m so sorry.”

These are things you don’t forget.