January 6, 2021 was the Feast of the Epiphany for observant Christians. It was also a moment of epiphany for the U.S. There is no doubt now to many that there is violence and anger hiding behind the curtain of Real-American “patriotism.”
In the Summer of 2020 warnings were made that the Fake-Americans protesting around the country against racial, social, and economic injustices were radicals who were dedicated to destabilizing the country and “our way of life.” The protesters were met with condemnation, rubber bullets, tear gas, tanks in the streets and sometimes violently aggressive law enforcement forces.
On January 6th Real-Americans armed themselves and stormed the U.S. Capitol. Some law enforcement officials present assisted the Real-Americans in gaining access to the Capitol building. The Real-Americans killed, and injured Capitol police officers, destroyed Federal property, invaded the offices of law makers, and stole personal property from those offices. The Real-Americans built gallows outside the Capitol. They wanted to hang the Vice President for not challenging the electoral college vote confirmation process. They stormed the U.S. Capitol to halt or completely stop the certification of the vote by Congress. They did not want a new duly elected President of the U.S. confirmed. Some of them were equipped with zip ties in preparation for kidnapping law makers. This invasion did not come from the Fake-Americans of the previous Summer. The acts of violence came from Real-Americans who profess to “love” the country and respect law and order and the sanctity of property. Their love of country drove them to commit insurrection against the government of said country.
What toxicity causes such blindness to the fact that we are a collective of human beings? You cannot attack others without attacking self. If your concerns lay solely with the survival of yourself and your immediate family, you are a target for manipulative forces who say that it is okay to separate families seeking asylum in this country or that banning Muslims from entering this country is good. You can be convinced that not wearing a mask to help reduce the spread of a highly contagious virus amid a pandemic is an act of freedom, so it is okay. You can believe that an election was stolen without proof that can stand up to scrutiny in courts.
If Real-Americans are unwilling or incapable of seeing the suffering of others it is no surprise that others don’t readily recognize the suffering of the Real-Americans. All of us can feel the pain of injustice. We can no longer afford to pretend that race, ethnicity, or religion separate us from our humanity.