Mediaboss Marketing

On the one-year anniversary of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, local and state politicians reflected on the aftermath and what it means for America going forward.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said in a statement that Trumps claims of a stolen election are to blame for the riot at the Capitol.

Trumps Big Lie about the 2020 election incited a violent insurrection and attack on our democracy, Baldwin said. We must never forget this dark day in our nations history.

Baldwin also defended the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 riot and accused Wisconsin Republicans of using taxpayer money to promote Trumps big lie about the election and to attack voting rights.

The bipartisan House Select Committee is right to shine a light on the truth, so that there is accountability and that it never happens again in this country, Baldwin said.

Baldwins successor in the House, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and a Kenosha native, left no doubt where he thinks responsibility lies.

People are also reading

The broken glass has been replaced and physical injuries have largely healed, but the events that unfolded last year during the insurrection at the Capitol left scars that will last a lifetime, Pocan said. January 6th was one of the darkest days in our nations history, and yet, many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle deny that their cult leader was responsible. I fully support the January 6 committees efforts to see that each and every person who participated in that days events be held accountable, and that something like this can never happen again.

Defending 1st Amendment

In a previous statement at Gateways Racine Campus, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, compared Jan. 6 to the riots in Kenosha following the Jacob Blake shooting on Aug. 23, 2020, and said that he would defend peoples First Amendment right if youre engaged in a First Amendment activity.

The moment you cross from First Amendment activity to criminal behavior, you should be held accountable, said Steil, who represents Kenosha and Racine counties in Congress.

A request Wednesday to Steil for fresh comments had not been answered by press time.

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, saw the riot as an attempt to overturn the election, not just by the rioters, but by local, state and national officials who spread misinformation about the validity of the 2020 election.

Those who are responsible for that attempt to deny what our democracy is built on with violence, they should be held responsible, Hawkins said.

Hawkins also praised the ongoing congressional investigation, saying it would help bring clarity and transparency to the events leading up to Jan. 6.

Theres too much at stake, Hawkins said. We saw it with our own eyes.

Believes election was stolen

On the other hand, Ken Brown, vice-chairman of the Racine County Republican Party, repeated claims held by many Republicans about the election having been stolen.

There was definitely some shenanigans and improper procedures in the election, Brown said.

Brown said he believes that FBI plants were to blame for the violence at the Capitol, claiming the gathered crowd was otherwise completely unarmed and peaceful. He criticized the congressional investigation, arguing that since the Republicans on the committee had been selected by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the board had no authority.

Its completely illegal, Brown said. It is a witch hunt, it is not a proper investigation.

Varying perspectives

Professors and activists, meanwhile, shared their varying perspectives on the eventful day.

Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at UW-Madison, described the riots as a violent insurrection, meant to overthrow the election. Mayer warned that the dangers that led to that moment are still here.

You have office-holders up and down Wisconsin who are lying about what happened, Mayer said, making cartoonish accusations about the election.

Mayer said he was waiting to see what would happen with the congressional hearing.

It was and remains a perilous moment for American democracy, Mayer said.

Arthur Cyr, a Carthage College professor of political economy and world business, had a less dire assessment when looking back on Jan. 6

Lots of Americans should be assured that the system is working, Cyr said. We should be grateful things werent worse. Our institutions persevered.

Cyr called the congressional hearing a political exercise and pointed to the many hundreds of people charged so far by the Justice Department for their involvement with the riots as evidence that the system had worked.

The most important activity to pay attention to is the Justice Department, Cyr said. Thats more important than the political circus going on in Congress.

Cyr also said he didnt consider the riot an armed insurrection, which he acknowledged is a view not shared by many in the media and academia, who he felt had blown it out of proportion.

I think it was a very violent riot, Cyr said. Important lessons were learned.

But David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, warned that the acceptance of extremism by individuals and institutions was creating a dangerous political environment in America.

Were at a moment, Goldenberg said. Are we going to reject the extremism that led to what occurred on Jan. 6, or are we going to continue to normalize it?

Looking ahead

As for the future, Hawkins said that it was critical to solve such political divides that led to Jan. 6.

I think that we as the adults and leaders in our communities must make sure that we are moving forward, Hawkins said. We cant do that until we settle whats dividing us right now.

But Brown warned Democrats that the power balance would be shifting soon.

I would advise the Democratic Party and Democrats across the country to look closely inward, because theyre about to lose power for the next decade, Brown said.

Baldwin, meanwhile, pushed the importance of voting rights, advocating for the passing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

We cannot allow Senate Republicans to obstruct action on strengthening our democracy, protecting voting rights and putting power in the hands of the people at the ballot box, Baldwin said.

Post-Dispatch columnists Aisha Sultan and Tony Messenger discuss the year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks at the U.S. Capitol.

In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of Four Freedoms: Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the Freeway Killer slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)

In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroits Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigans rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)

In 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)

In 2006, velvet-voiced singer Lou Rawls died in Los Angeles at age 72.

Five years ago: An arriving airline passenger pulled a gun from his luggage and opened fire in the baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, killing five people and wounding eight. (An Alaska man, Esteban Santiago, admitted to the shooting and was sentenced to life in prison.)

Five years ago: Congress certified Donald Trumps presidential victory over the objections of a handful of House Democrats, with Vice President Joe Biden pronouncing, It is over.

One year ago: As final votes were counted in the preceding days Senate runoffs in Georgia, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock emerged as the winners over Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, giving Democrats control of the Senate.

One year ago: Supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and smashed their way into the Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Bidens victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding; most of the rioters had come from a nearby rally where Trump urged them to fight like hell. A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a police officer as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiners office said. (In the weeks that followed, four of the officers who responded to the riot took their own lives.) Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying the election result.

Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

Here is the original post:
Local and state leaders reflect on one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots - Kenosha News