The myth of American innocence
Broken glass on the doors to the entrance of the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and were cleared from the building. “The Capitol attack shows the danger of forgetting America’s history,” writes New York Times editorial board member Brent Staples. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
Written By
13th Jan 2021
The history of the United States is rife with episodes of political violence far bloodier and more destructive than the one that President Donald Trump incited at the Capitol on Wednesday. Nevertheless, ignorance of a grisly past well documented by historians like W.E.B. DuBois, John Hope Franklin and Richard Hofstadter was painfully evident in the aftermath of the mob invasion of Congress. Talking heads queued up to tell the country again and again that the carnage was an aberration and “not who we are” as a people.
The history of the United States is rife with episodes of political violence far bloodier and more destructive than the one that President Donald Trump incited at the Capitol on Wednesday. Nevertheless, ignorance of a grisly past well documented by historians like W.E.B. DuBois, John Hope Franklin and Richard Hofstadter was painfully evident in the aftermath of the mob invasion of Congress. Talking heads queued up to tell the country again and again that the carnage was an aberration and “not who we are” as a people.