Thursday, March 28, 2024

Black Capitol Police Officers Describe How They Fought Off ‘Racist-Ass Terrorists’

US Capitol Police (including Black officers - Getty)
US Capitol Police / Getty

*We know it was hell for most of the US Capitol police officers when the racist Trumpers came for them last Wednesday, but what about the Black officers in particular?  Can you imagine what it was like for them?

Well, since you can’t completely do that, Buzzfeed spoke with a couple of them to find out.

To start with, they told the news outlet that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day. Interesting. Very interesting.

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US Capitol officers by Elvert Barnes1)
Black US Capitol officers (Photo Elvert Barnes: ElvertBarnes.com)

Here’s MORE of their story via Buzzfeed:

The first glimpse of the deadly tragedy that was about to unfold came at 9 a.m. on the morning of the insurrection for one Black veteran of the US Capitol Police. But it didn’t come from his superiors — instead the officer had to rely on a screenshot from Instagram sent to him by a friend.

“I found out what they were planning when a friend of mine screenshot me an Instagram story from the Proud Boys saying, ‘We’re breaching the Capitol today, guys. I hope y’all ready.’” The officer, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from his superiors, told BuzzFeed News that it was just a sign of the chaos that was to come, which saw officers regularly finding themselves unprepared and then outmanned and overpowered by the mob.

The officer said that while the department’s upper management had been telling them to prepare for Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol like they would for any other protest, that Instagram post sent a clear message: this wasn’t going to be just some kind of free speech protest — this was going to be a fight.

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Management’s inaction left Black police officers especially vulnerable to a mob that had been whipped up by President Donald Trump, a man who has a record of inspiring racist vigilantes to action. One of the most defining videos of that day was of one of their colleagues, another Black officer, trying in vain to hold back the tide of rioters who had broken into the building and were hunting for Congressional members.

BuzzFeed 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 BuzzFeed News’ request for comment about the allegations made by officers.

Ger the FULL story of what Black US Capitol police officers had to deal with during the insurrection at Buzzfeed.

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