September 11, 2023

On August 28, 1963, I participated in my first protest march on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  On January 6, 2021, I participated in my last.  Over many of the intervening years I watched the United States, as exemplified by the August 1963 march, make great strides in living up to the lofty goals set forth in its Declaration of Independence.  However, in recent years I have ruefully observed this nation, as exemplified by the January 6, 2021 march, inexplicably choose to set itself on the same road of inevitable self-destruction that so many failed societies have traveled. 

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It was an overcast, albeit mild August day by Washington D.C. standards, as I, about to begin my freshman year at Catholic University, joined the thousands walking along Constitution Avenue toward the Lincoln Memorial.  While it was a diverse gathering, the most noticeable among us were those that bore the scars of the civil rights battles in the deep South.  Regardless of skin color, nationality or faith all were there to exercise their Constitutional right to petition Congress to address institutionalized segregation and racism.

As a recently naturalized citizen, being among so many of my fellow citizens in a righteous cause gave me an overwhelming sense of pride.  Thanks to the benevolence of the American people, I was fortunate to live in a country in which its citizens could march and petition the national government without the fear of retribution that had permeated the near-totally destroyed continent I left behind.

While Martin Luther King’s speech was unforgettable and magnificent, it was the speaker before him who was the most meaningful and memorable for me.  He was Rabbi Joachim Prinz,  President of the American Jewish Congress who fled Nazi Germany in 1937.  An excerpt:

When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things.  The most important thing I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem.  The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.  A great people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent onlookers. 

They remained silent in the face of hate, the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.  America must not remain silent.  Not merely black America, but all of America.  It must speak up and act…and not for the sake of the Negro, not for the sake of the black community but for the sake of the image, the idea, and the aspiration of America itself.  [Emphasis added]

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Because Americans refused to stay silent, Congress soon passed Civil Rights legislation outlawing institutionalized segregation and racism.

On January 6, 2021, a massive confluence of the inhabitants of Middle America descended on Washington to exercise their constitutional right to petition Congress.  Amid this tidal wave of humanity that had traveled from as far away as California and Alaska were people of all races, creeds, and nationalities.

As I entered the Capitol grounds on January 6th, I was taken aback by the obvious lack of preparation as well as practically non-existent crowd barriers.  There was virtually no police presence at the East Front of the Capitol and far too little at the West Front.  The overall police presence was woefully inadequate particularly in light of the potential for violence initiated by Antifa in Washington.  Less than five months prior to January 6th, Antifa had fomented violence at the Republican Convention in August and a Trump rally in November.

As the few flimsy crowd barriers had easily been breached, a large crowd had gathered near doors at West Front of the Capitol.  Many of most vocal appeared to be stereotypical Antifa-looking militants and atypical Trump supporters waving Trump flags and trying to goad others into breeching the locked doors.  Sensing a set-up, I admonished those around me to stay 50-75 yards away from the building.

The police soon began indiscriminately using flashbangs and tear gas thereby injuring and inciting heretofore peaceful protestors.  These same police soon stepped aside and opened the doors which had been unlocked from the inside, effectively inviting the protestors into the Capitol.

As I watched the culmination of the chaos my thoughts turned to a moment in history wherein a fire at the Reichstag was used as a pretext for the Nazis to blatantly prosecute, imprison their political adversaries and consolidate their power.  The consensus of many historians is that the Nazis deliberately set the fire.