Two black Capitol police officers talk about how they were left unprepared the day the building was stormed

Cicada 5

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Buzz Feed News spoke to two Black officers who described a harrowing day in which they were forced to endure racist abuse — including repeatedly being called the n-word — as they tried to do their job of protecting the Capitol building, and by extension the very functioning of American democracy. The officers said they were wrong footed, fighting off an invading force that their managers had downplayed, and not prepared them for. They had all been issued gas masks, for example, but management didn’t tell them to bring them in on the day. Capitol Police did not respond to Buzz Feed News’s request for comment about the allegations made by officers.

While some of the images from that day appeared to show officers standing by to let the mob into the Capitol building, the veteran officer said that they had fought them off for two hours before the attackers eventually gained access. The officer said that many of the widely spread images of smiling marauders, wandering the halls dressed in absurd costumes, had the effect of downplaying how well prepared some of the rioters were to overtake the building, and even to capture and kill Congress members.

“That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists that attacked us,” said the officer, who has been with the department for more than a decade. “They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs ... They were prepared. They strategically put two IE Ds, pipe bombs in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military,” the veteran said, referring to two suspected pipe bombs that were found outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee.

The officer even described coming face to face with police officers from across the country in the mob. He said some of them flashed their badges, telling him to let them through, and trying to explain that this was all part of a movement that was supposed to help.

“You have the nerve to be holding a blue lives matter flag, and you are out there fucking us up,” he told one group of protestors he encountered inside the Capitol. “[One guy] pulled out his badge and he said, ‘we’re doing this for you.’ Another guy had his badge. So I was like, ‘well, you gotta be kidding.’”

...

“We were telling them to back up and get away and stop, and they’re telling us, they are on our side, and they’re doing this for us, and they’re saying this as I’m getting punched in my face by one of them … That happened to a lot of us. We were getting pepper sprayed in the face by those protesters, I'm not going to even call them protestors, by those domestic terrorists,” said the officer.

While it was a hard day for almost every officer at the Capitol, Black officers were in a particularly difficult position, he said, and he drew a stark contrast with how police handled the Black Lives Matter protests this summer.

“There’s quite a big difference when the Black Lives Matter protests come up to the capitol,” he said. “[On Wednesday], some officers were catering to the rioters.”

He said that what upset him the most was when he later saw images of a white colleague taking a selfie with the attackers, seeming to enjoy his time with the insurrectionists who were roaming the US Capitol with confederate flags and other symbols of white supremacy.

“That one hurt me the most because I was on the other side of the Capitol getting my ass kicked,” he said.

...

The older Black officer didn’t think it was a simple case of treating the rioters differently from BLM protesters, but instead part of a bigger issue with how the agency is managed.

“Our chief was nowhere to be found, I didn’t hear him on the radio. One of our other deputy chiefs was not there,” he said. “You don’t think it’s all hands on deck?”

The veteran officer welcomed the resignation of US Capitol Police chief, Steven Sund, but he thinks more needs to change at the agency, which answers to Congress and where security is not as tight as it should be

...

“I sat down with one of my buddies, another Black guy, and tears just started streaming down my face,” he said. “I said, ‘what the fuck, man? Is this America? What the fuck just happened? I’m so sick and tired of this shit.’”

Soon he was screaming, so that everyone in the rotunda, including his white colleagues, could hear what he had just gone through.

“These are racist ass terrorists,” he yelled out.

In the seven years since Black Lives Matter has become a rallying cry, the image of a white cop, deciding how and when to enforce law and order, has become ubiquitous. On Wednesday, Americans saw something different, as Black officers tried to do the same, as they attempted to protect the very heart of American democracy. And instead of being honored by the supporters of a man who likes to call himself the “law and order” president, Black Capitol officers found themselves under attack.

“I got called a [N-Word] 15 times today,” the veteran officer shouted in the rotunda to no one in particular. “Trump did this and we got all of these fucking people in our department that voted for him. How the fuck can you support him?”

“I cried for about 15 minutes and I just let it out.”
 

Cheetodust

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“Trump did this and we got all of these fucking people in our department that voted for him."
That's so horrible. A friend of mine studied to be a nurse in Scotland, qualified and worked and lived there for years. Then Brexit happened. One of his colleagues came in bragging about the brexit result and how it was great that the UK would be able to stop all the immigrants now. It wasn't really aimed at my friend, he had to kind of talk around how he specifically meant brown inmigrants. Which is horrible considering how much immigration has contributed to the staff of the NHS.

And the fascists want us to be nicer to bigots and show their views respect.
 

ObsidianJones

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So, "we support the cops" has always been a lie that bigoted members of the population cling to when they are backed into the corner about how blacks are treated in this country.

Oh, sure. There are people who support cops geniunely. I was about to become a police officer. I was one of them. But I always question the people who have the thin blue line flags on their bumpers.

Anyway, this is what their 'support' amounts to. Their heroes become easy targets to unleash their frustrations. I sadly saw the video of what that group of "Law And Order" believers did to that poor officer Sicknick.

Again, this is the Civil Rights moment, aired for the world to see. This is what most minorities feared lies somewhat deep in the Republican party. And when some say "Democrats think they have the minority sown up"... yeah. They do. Ask most Blacks if they are surprised by Wednesday's events. I'm sure you'll get a lot of "Tulsa"s, "Rosewood"s, "Rochester/Harlem"s, "Watts", "Augusta"s...

This is who America is. People are just shocked that they are targeted by it for once.
 

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“That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists that attacked us,” said the officer, who has been with the department for more than a decade. “They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs ... They were prepared. They strategically put two IE Ds, pipe bombs in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military,” the veteran said, referring to two suspected pipe bombs that were found outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee.
Then why aren't they still there?
 

Dwarvenhobble

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And the fascists want us to be nicer to bigots and show their views respect.
Because you don't change hearts and minds by trying to put swords and bullets through them.

Unless you have truly given up on humanity in which case when you make the news try not to mention this forum, I don't think anyone wants to deal with that.
 
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Dwarvenhobble

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So, "we support the cops" has always been a lie that bigoted members of the population cling to when they are backed into the corner about how blacks are treated in this country.

Oh, sure. There are people who support cops geniunely. I was about to become a police officer. I was one of them. But I always question the people who have the thin blue line flags on their bumpers.

Anyway, this is what their 'support' amounts to. Their heroes become easy targets to unleash their frustrations. I sadly saw the video of what that group of "Law And Order" believers did to that poor officer Sicknick.

Again, this is the Civil Rights moment, aired for the world to see. This is what most minorities feared lies somewhat deep in the Republican party. And when some say "Democrats think they have the minority sown up"... yeah. They do. Ask most Blacks if they are surprised by Wednesday's events. I'm sure you'll get a lot of "Tulsa"s, "Rosewood"s, "Rochester/Harlem"s, "Watts", "Augusta"s...

This is who America is. People are just shocked that they are targeted by it for once.
I going to say I saw a handful or more of Black Trump supporters in footage of the invasion of the Capitol Building.

Then why aren't they still there?
Honestly not the question I'd have asked.

I'd have been asking about the military training thing and if they were so good what failed as if the plan was to get in and blow it they'd have done so. If the plan was to get in and hide the bombs how were they so easily found?

Something feels off because if this was so planned, so co-ordinated there's more to this. Just thinking tactically for a moment the only reason to do what they did and seemingly not succeed (other than sending a message) would be a decoy to throw people off what actually was the objective and what they actually went for. Which is a very worrying thought indeed.
 

Avnger

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So, "we support the cops" has always been a lie that bigoted members of the population cling to when they are backed into the corner about how blacks are treated in this country.

Oh, sure. There are people who support cops geniunely. I was about to become a police officer. I was one of them. But I always question the people who have the thin blue line flags on their bumpers.

Anyway, this is what their 'support' amounts to. Their heroes become easy targets to unleash their frustrations. I sadly saw the video of what that group of "Law And Order" believers did to that poor officer Sicknick.

Again, this is the Civil Rights moment, aired for the world to see. This is what most minorities feared lies somewhat deep in the Republican party. And when some say "Democrats think they have the minority sown up"... yeah. They do. Ask most Blacks if they are surprised by Wednesday's events. I'm sure you'll get a lot of "Tulsa"s, "Rosewood"s, "Rochester/Harlem"s, "Watts", "Augusta"s...

This is who America is. People are just shocked that they are targeted by it for once.
I don't remember if it was said here in another thread or elsewhere, but:

They never actually believed in "blue lives matter." It just sounded less bigoted than outright admitting "black lives don't matter."
 

Avnger

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Then why aren't they still there?
Why isn't who or what still there? Using actual nouns generally helps when "they" could refer to any number of things or people in someone else's post.
 

Trunkage

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Because you don't change hearts and minds by trying to put swords and bullets through them.

Unless you have truly given up on humanity in which case when you make the news try not to mention this forum, I don't think anyone wants to deal with that.
Oh yes. Because it is well known that so many fascists have been stabbed and shot lately
 

Dreiko

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I think "support the police" means different things to different people. Those rioters seem to think it means to support white supremacy and policing in the sense it was first created which was to catch runaway slaves.

Now, to bunch that up together with people who just want law and order and live out that message in their own personal lives hence expect others to act accordingly and not act a fool, that's not right either. You gotta parse out if these people are being hypocritical or not first, and most people who wanna support the police are doing it out of a concern for their actual personal safety and not because they wanna call people the N word lol.

And anyone who thought for a second Trump cares about law and order is someone to whom I'd wanna sell a beachfront property in the center of the Sahara lmao. At that stage you're either completely brainwashed and would believe anything he had to say which means there's no point talking to you, or you know he's lying and you're going with it for the optics, which is what I think most people do.
 

Dwarvenhobble

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Oh yes. Because it is well known that so many fascists have been stabbed and shot lately
1) That's whataboutism because I was making a point about tactics to change things not claiming people had been shot and stabbed.


2) They have.

Ashli Babbitt (you can argue how justified or not it was but she was shot)


Aaron Danielson


Lee Keltner


Andrew Duncomb stabbed


Unknown 2 of the 4 stabbed


William Knight Stabbed to death


So now if you want to claim they're not Fascists well then civilians are being stabbed accused of being fascists then which I'd say would be worse wouldn't you?
 

Thaluikhain

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and most people who wanna support the police are doing it out of a concern for their actual personal safety and not because they wanna call people the N word lol.

...

And anyone who thought for a second Trump cares about law and order is someone to whom I'd wanna sell a beachfront property in the center of the Sahara lmao. At that stage you're either completely brainwashed and would believe anything he had to say which means there's no point talking to you, or you know he's lying and you're going with it for the optics, which is what I think most people do.
Out of interest, what are you basing both those "most"s on? Not saying you're wrong, but I'm not seeing enough to say for sure if they're in the majority or not.
 

Elijin

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Because you don't change hearts and minds by trying to put swords and bullets through them.

Unless you have truly given up on humanity in which case when you make the news try not to mention this forum, I don't think anyone wants to deal with that.
As much as I dislike giving you attention, I want to address this in a spotlight manner.

This is not the first time you've taken relatively innocuous comments and flippantly made coy remarks implying fellow escapist members might go out and inflict harm on others in acts of terror. It is vile and disgusting, and I'm shocked you haven't been moderated for it.

It's also a prime example of some of the issues people have you. For instance you constantly harp on about how we're demonizing your side, yet you make comments like this. That is why people say you don't argue in good faith. You've learned phrases and words, which you happily weaponise to suit your purpose, without taking them on board.

You're also accused of ban baiting people, well this is that. Making a flippant comment suggesting they may commit an act of terror, to see what it provokes.

Instead of quipping back at me, take a long reflection of how you conduct yourself around here. I'm not sure you will though, because I believe your behaviour to be intentional.
 

Dwarvenhobble

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As much as I dislike giving you attention, I want to address this in a spotlight manner.

This is not the first time you've taken relatively innocuous comments and flippantly made coy remarks implying fellow escapist members might go out and inflict harm on others in acts of terror. It is vile and disgusting, and I'm shocked you haven't been moderated for it.

It's also a prime example of some of the issues people have with you. For instance you constantly harp on about how we're demonizing your side, yet you make comments like this. That is why people say you don't argue in good faith. You've learned phrases and words, which you happily weaponise to suit your purpose, without taking them on board.

You're also accused of ban baiting people, well this is that. Making a flippant comment suggesting they may commit an act of terror, to see what it provokes.

Instead of quipping back at me, take a long reflection of how you conduct yourself around here. I'm not sure you will though, because I believe your behaviour to be intentional.
Well when people are so opposed to changing hearts and minds there's few other options in the end. I'm all ears if you have another option. Do you have a workable one? Maybe some kind of special camps somewhere cold and away from civilisation to put them in? How about reservations?

In other threads we had people celebrating people getting maced and harmed.

The accusations of ban baiting people were because people thought I was trying to make them talk about banned topics. I wasn't. I addressed those claims and honestly certain other members before spent quite a while trying to ban bait people far more blatantly but I note you've never got mad at them. The only "Ban baiting" going on if you want to level that accusation is presenting information that may not be comfortable for people to look and and cause an emotive response.

Also did I specifically say the person would do that or point it out on a hypothetical level as to means to solve a problem?

Might I also suggest that Imax is rather missing you in Screen 1
 

Dreiko

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Out of interest, what are you basing both those "most"s on? Not saying you're wrong, but I'm not seeing enough to say for sure if they're in the majority or not.
People have a desire for law and order and strong policing even in places where there is no N word to say, hell, I didn't even know of the word before moving here myself yet I always avoided breaking the law out of a general sense of respect for wider society and the wisdom that allows us to live with modern standards and not like animals, so I chose to manifest that respect in following its rules. Clearly it's not dependent on merely wanting to say the N word. Also, a desire for safety is part one of the 3 basic desires we have since it ties into "shelter", so it's pretty easy to surmise this much.


And I just have a deep enough respect for the human race to be able to have certainty that most people are opportunistic rather than moronic when both are similarly likely options.
 

Trunkage

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1) That's whataboutism because I was making a point about tactics to change things not claiming people had been shot and stabbed.


2) They have.

Ashli Babbitt (you can argue how justified or not it was but she was shot)


Aaron Danielson


Lee Keltner


Andrew Duncomb stabbed


Unknown 2 of the 4 stabbed


William Knight Stabbed to death


So now if you want to claim they're not Fascists well then civilians are being stabbed accused of being fascists then which I'd say would be worse wouldn't you?
Thus you can say that someone you dont like wants to do a murder. I get it

Edit: just to be clear, 'someone' being Crimson
 
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ObsidianJones

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I going to say I saw a handful or more of Black Trump supporters in footage of the invasion of the Capitol Building.
I believe it. And I also saw the Black Cop being chased up the stairs. And we're talking about Black Cops now.

There were also women and other minorities in the crowd as well.

History is rife with people joining causes that are fundamentally against their actual best interests for their perceived interest. Being in this society, money is good. Government is bad. Not a wholly unconvincing argument. But, just as the treatment of the police officers show... most groups will forget their so-called "Loyalties" to exact vengeance.

How many of the dozens of Police Officers were Republican? Trump Supporters? The Mob didn't care. All they see are "people who are in on it". That's why they called possibly their fellow Republicans and believers who just happened to be Police 'traitors' for doing their jobs.

Playing Nice only benefits you when things are good. But when things are bad, you're on your own if you're really not apart of the core group. And the larger numbers will determine who the core group is by their mood at the time, and will not take count in the heat of the moment. The "Law And Order" cultists who claims to support Police above all us demonstrated that 60 times over in just one day.

Because you don't change hearts and minds by trying to put swords and bullets through them.

Unless you have truly given up on humanity in which case when you make the news try not to mention this forum, I don't think anyone wants to deal with that.
If I could like this comment ten million times, I would

You are a trillion times correct in this statement. I couldn't have said it better myself.

And it is with that sentiment do people say Black Lives Matter. No one says do not arrest black people. Black people break the law. It happens. But the first step shouldn't be their death. It shouldn't be guns drawn.

And the officers said they feel threatened so they must bring out their weapon. Ok. 100,000 people descending on you doesn't make you feel threatened? People who have their heads bashed in next to you don't make you feel threatened?

The fact is, officers showed the restraint that we always knew they were capable of. All Black Lives Matter is saying is show that same restraint at all times.

But yes, you're so right about this, it hurts. You really don't change hearts and minds by trying to put swords and bullets through them.

That's why a lot of the Black Community looks at our protests in 2020 and the 6th protests and feel more distant from the Police than ever before.



I don't remember if it was said here in another thread or elsewhere, but:

They never actually believed in "blue lives matter." It just sounded less bigoted than outright admitting "black lives don't matter."
I can't say all Republicans and/or cultists think that way. After all, a heavy amount of them are actual law enforcement or family members/friends with.

But back in another life time, when I was a personal trainer for a high end gym, a lot of our richer clients were Republicans. And you couldn't believe how many times they would laugh with each other about how they would berate police officers for fun. How these skinny 5 foot nothing women would get off that they verbally put an officer a foot taller than her into his place.

Yet, when it came up in the news that there was a... 'disagreement' with a Police officer and a minority, they would be the first to say "Oh, Cops don't lie. They are the salt of the earth. Criminals make things up because they don't want to get caught."

I think for a lot of them, it's a Pecking order. Them themselves > Cops and people who keep infrastructure up > Minorities > Black People.
 
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