During a Thursday speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol storming, Vice President Kamala Harris compared the events of that day to the deadliest terrorist attacks in United States history: Pearl Harbor and September 11.
“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said. “Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001, and January 6th, 2021.”
Harris went on to warn of “forces who seek to dismantle our democracy” that, to her, showed the “fragility” of the United States governmental system.
“On Jan. 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful. The lawlessness. The violence. The chaos,” Harris continued. “What was at stake then, and now, is the right to have our future decided the way the Constitution prescribes it: By we, the people.”
“The violent assault that took place here, the very fact of how close we came to an election overturned, that reflects the fragility of democracy,” she added.
During the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 2,403 service members and civilians were killed by the Japanese Empire. On September 11th, 2,977 Americans were killed by Islamic terrorists.
One woman, Ashli Babbitt, was killed during the protest on Jan. 6, 2021. She was shot and killed by a Capitol Police Officer while attempting to enter a wing of the Capitol building. Two people suffered fatal heart attacks, and one woman thought to be trampled to death was revealed to have died from an accidental drug overdose. Four law enforcement officers committed suicide in the days and months after the protest, and one officer died of “natural causes.”
Standing in contrast to Harris’ condemnation of the violence on Jan. 6, just months before the Capitol storming, Harris promoted a bail fund that helped to release suspects charged with violent crimes during riots in the summer of 2020.
In June 2020, days after George Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis Police Custody, then-Senator Kamala Harris called on supporters to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF). MFF raises money to help post bail.
“If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota,” Harris tweeted at the time.
The National Police Association (NPA) found that there were over 500 “violent riots” in 2020 and slammed Congress for investigating the riot on Jan. 6 while “ignoring” the destructive riots that raged across the United States in 2020. Over 2,000 police officers were injured in the line of duty during the first weeks of demonstrations, and more than two dozen people were killed during the vicious riots.
