Dear Black People:

Today, as we celebrated our electoral victory in Georgia and began ushering in a change in leadership, the Capitol was attacked by white supremacists emboldened by Trump’s desperation to retain power. These people, helped by the police, broke into federal office buildings, incited violence, and posed for pictures with the Capitol police as other officers of the law stood idly by, watching violence unfold in front of them. 

It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that if this were Black people, the police response would have been more violent, and perhaps deadly. We have seen it before. When Black protesters showed up to the Capitol to mourn our dead during summer 2020, we were met with tear gas, beaten, run-over, and jailed in our thousands for simply holding vigils and rallies. Still, the people who broke into the building today, armed and ready to incite violence in an attempt to halt the confirmation of a fair democratic election, were met with little to no recourse or mass arrests. 

What played out today in the halls of Congress is a testament to the fact that we are changing the balance of power in this country. We knew there’d be backlash. We knew that white supremacists, with Trump’s support, would attempt to steal what we worked so hard for. Trump has continually stoked the flames of violence, white supremacy, and terror while we have focused on building power for all people and to realize a world where we’re all safe.

If you needed another reason to divest from police and reimagine public safety, remember that even in moments of domestic terror, police are incapable of standing in opposition to white supremacy and violence.

We won a great victory today in Georgia and across the whole country in November, and our work isn’t done.