Capitol Catalysm

Elijah Owens, Reporter

A sobering lesson to understand revolves around the fact that it does not matter where an individual comes from, their walk of life, or their socioeconomic status. Despite those aforementioned qualities, they all share one common characteristic: unprecedented death. This happened exactly on Wednesday January 6, 2021 when the capital riots claimed the lives of five people: three supported Trump feverently, one owned the badge of an Air Force veteran (who also identified as a Trump loyalist); one aspired to become a police officer. This article seeks to explain how this day impacted the nation as well as the long-term ramifications of the equally heinous and shocking event that transpired.


Even though most predicted that the far right orchestrated this mob on the capitol, some argue that the far left must share some responsibility. In all actuality, anytime a president continually lies about the electoral college to suit his narrative, destruction forged to the path as an eventuality, an inevitable probability that materialized into America’s worst nightmare. To reiterate, historically speaking, when people in power lie about the facts of a situation, it brings out the worst regardless of what side each person falls on. Matter of factly, political ideology falls on a spectrum, not a side, so accusing the ballots of false votes disrupts the inherent hierarchy and threatens to tear the entire country apart in the process.


Additionally, going into the capitol building all while refusing to follow government protocol spells trouble. As a death sentence, a suicide mission, the simple act of defiance warrants unncessary death and national turmoil. Speaking of which, this attack on the capitol undoubtedly stacks up as domestic terrorism. As a nation, Americans must deal with this incident as such. Again, regardless of what aisle of the political spectrum these domestic terrorists fall on, they deserve prosecution to the fullest extent for the people they killed and the cataclysm they presented. Above all, justice must bang the gavel for the innocent lives claimed by this man-made disaster.


Based on what these perpetrators promised, some spectators suggest that a second wave of violence should rear its ugly head on January 20, 2021: inauguration day. This instills an active sense of dread, apprehension, and imminent doom as the hourglass continues to countdown to this allegedly fateful day. The scariest aspect certainly circulates around the harsh reality that the first wave of domestic terrorism happened out of pronounced wedlock. If the domestic terrorists summoned up the courage to produce a capitol cataclysm, so to speak, similar, if not worse, circumstances could unfold anywhere in the country. Clearly, like no man’s land, safe ceases to exist on either side of the picket fence.

In the end, the country needs a different, fresh, more harmonious narrative to pen. These acts of bigotry, hatred, and self-mutilation need to stop before the country finds herself in total ruin. A lesser known fact of the matter if that, violence begets violence. In retrospection, these heinous, inhumanely insidious deeds merely perpetuate more of the same. If anyone possesses the desire to leave behind a safer, more democratic, free & fair political landscape for the future generations, now exposes the opportunity to do something. It takes one person at a time. Sometimes, the best way to learn is to unlearn what does not positively serve within and around.