‘I Guess This is America’: Capitol Officer Delivers Sobering Assessment of the US in Wake of January 6th
On Tuesday, during the first hearing of the U.S. House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, one of the officers testifying delivered a sobering assessment of the United States in the aftermath of that attack.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), one of the committee members, asked Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, “You describe talking to your fellow Black officer about what you went through in experiencing those racial epithets. You asked a question, I think, that I’ve been haunted by ever since, is this America? And I’m very interested to know your thoughts on the answer to that question. Is this America, what you saw?”
In his opening testimony, Dunn mentioned he received a “torrent of racial epithets” during the riot and that a woman in a pink MAGA shirt told him, “You hear that guys, this n***** voted for Joe Biden.”
“Then the crowd, perhaps around 20 people, joined in, screaming ‘Boo! Fucking N*****!’” said Dunn.
In response to Schiff’s question, Dunn said, “I’ve done a few interviews before about my experiences that day, and I said that it was a war that we fought and a war is composed of a bunch of different battles, and everybody even sitting at this table, fought a different battle that day, but it was all for the same war.”
Dunn went on to say that officers like him fought a battle in addition to the one against the rioters.
“And as Black officers, I believe we fought a different battle also, and the fact that we had our race attacked and just because of the way we look, you know, to answer your question, frankly, I guess it is America. It shouldn’t be, but I guess that’s the way things are,” he said. “I don’t condone it. I don’t like it, but I mean, if you look at our history, of American history, things are – countries existed because they won a war. Or colonies and state lines and boundaries exist because of violence and wars. Like it sounds silly, but I guess it is American. But it’s not the side of America I like. It’s not the side that any of us here represent.”
Dunn continued, “We represent the good side of America, the people that actually believe in decency and human decency and we appeal to just the good in people and that’s what we want to see.”
Dunn concluded his answer with a reference to a bipartisan package still being negotiated while a committee to investigate what happened on January 6 consists of members of both sides of the aisle.
“Whether we disagree with how they vote on a bill about infrastructure. Everybody wants the right thing, people to do okay, so that’s why I’m glad to see this committee composed of Republican members also,” he said. “So I – that’s encouraging. It’s encouraging so that’s the side of America that I say, yes, this is America. This is the side that I like and the side that I acknowledge.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
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