NEW ORLEANS — The storming of the U.S Capitol is being condemned, not only for the violence and havoc it brought, but for the slow police response to the attack as well.
The Black Lives Matter Global Foundation took to Twitter saying, “When Black people protest for our lives, we are met by National Guard troops or police equipped with assault rifles, tear gas and battle helmets. When white people attempt a coup, they are met by an underwhelming number of law enforcement personnel who act powerless to intervene. Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been tear gassed, battered, and perhaps shot.”
That sentiment was echoed by President-elect Joe Biden.
“No one can tell me if that had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said.
Thousands of people took to the streets last summer to peacefully protest police brutality. Law enforcement often clashed with demonstrators.
National Urban League President and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial called the way the BLM protestors were treated compared to the angry mob at the Capitol, a double standard.
“You and I and others saw the distinction, saw the differential in treatment and we ask why,” Morial said. “What we saw was no police. What we saw appeared to be police backing up and allowing these rioters to take control of the Capitol.”
Morial is now calling for a full investigation into the actions of the rioters and their enablers along with the inaction of law enforcement.
“We can only, only surmise and state unequivocally, law enforcement appears to have dropped the ball. But the enabling by the president is perhaps the most disturbing chapter in his presidency.”
Morial says what we saw Wednesday in Washington DC was nothing short of domestic terrorism.
He his fearful protests like this could spread across the country.
“To bring people together in this country we have cut out the cancer of hate, cut out the cancer of racism, cut out the cancer of intolerance,” Morial said.
Four people died during Wednesday’s riot at the capitol.
So far there have been more than 50 arrests.
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