The king is dead
ills On January 6, 2021 there was a riotous insurrection on Capitol Hill. The trigger for this event, African Americans voted, their votes decided who would be the President of the United States of America. Many who believed in the Trump sponsored “Make America Great Again” rhetoric that demanded minority votes casts nation wide were part of a “rigged election”.
It is no coincidence that on January 6th, the day when White Rage would attempt an armed takeover of our nation’s capital, is the same day that Congress would count the electoral votes and declare Joe Biden, buoyed by the African American vote, the winner of the 2020 Presidential election. Earlier on that same day Georgia elected two Democratic Senators in a state that had been regarded as a conservative strong hold. A spirited get out the vote campaign led by scorned Gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams inspired African American voters to come out in record numbers met that progressives had officially wrestled control of the Senate from the Republican Party.
Trumps ability to radicalize average Americans into committing criminal acts has its beginnings in the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. The desegregation of society and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 led to the Republican party’s adoption of the Southern Strategy. This was a deliberate and successful attempt by the Republican party to increase their support with white voters using coded language and tactics aimed at appealing to an uneducated populous.
President Trump knew his roadmap to reelection would run through the lens of white rage. Prior to the election the President made false claims of voter fraud. He encouraged over monitoring of poling places. He railed against mail in ballots even going so far as to replace the head of the US Postal Service in an attempt to slow or stop delivery of ballots thereby eliminating what he believed to be a large portion of the Democrat or Black vote. Soon it was clear that the Black vote had not been suppressed and he had lost the election. Next came the challenges in court. The Trump administration challenged the ballots cast in several states but in particular the areas where Black voter turnout was high. All while continuing to radicalize and incite white rage. So, on January 6th, after all legal remedies had been exhausted, President Trump encouraged a largely white male mob to express their frustrations and loss through violence.
It was this frustration, this desire to snatch back Black advancement and the pretense of citizenship from the African American that led to the day that the Trump presidency finally came to an end.
