Two weeks ago, the far-right riot at the U.S. Capitol—fueled by President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the election—shocked people across the world. But for many, it was a familiar scene. As the country looks ahead to a new administration and beyond, Charlottesville’s leaders and activists have hard-won advice for President Joe Biden.
“[The January 6 siege] is the same horrific play we’ve seen over and over again in this country,” says community activist Don Gathers, who was at the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally. “So much of the opening act of that play looked just like Charlottesville, where the police stood by and did nothing.”
For weeks, watchdog groups and activists repeatedly warned law enforcement that Trump supporters’ plans to violently storm the Capitol—and assault, kidnap, and even kill members of Congress—were posted across social media.
Despite these warnings, the Capitol Police anticipated a crowd in only the “low thousands,” and prepared for “small, disparate violent events,” according to Representative Jason Crow.
So, like in Charlottesville, police on the scene were massively unprepared for the thousands of people who showed up to Trump’s rally. Insurgents later overpowered the police and stormed the building, resulting in dozens of injuries and five deaths.
“It’s not like they were secretive…It was all over the internet,” says community activist Ang Conn, who was also at the Unite the Right rally.
Before August 11 and 12, 2017, members of the far-right also openly discussed their plans to incite violence and threatened local residents online, as well as held a few smaller “test” rallies in Charlottesville, says Conn. Local activists continuously alerted law enforcement and urged the city to stop the event from happening, but were not taken seriously.
“The people who were supposed to be keeping the peace had all of this information given to them and they ignored it,” says Tyler Magill, who was hit on the neck with a tiki torch during the Unite the Right rally, later causing him to have a stroke.
Video evidence also shows several Capitol officers moving barricades to allow rioters to get closer to the building, as well as one taking a selfie with a member of the far-right mob. Some rioters were members of law enforcement themselves, including two off-duty Virginia police officers.
The scene at the Capitol serves as a stark contrast to the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests last year, during which police deployed tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other types of force against thousands of people, and made over 10,000 arrests.
“If Black and brown folks were to do that exact same thing [at the Capitol], we would be dead,” says Conn.
Now, those who were present for the Unite the Right rally say a key to moving forward is to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Since January 6, federal authorities have arrested around 100 people, and say they could arrest hundreds more.
“This cannot be seen as anything other than armed insurrection,” says City Councilor Sena Magill, speaking solely for herself. “It needs to be very clear that people who participated in this need to be prosecuted, and not lightly. …Representatives who instigated this also need to be held accountable.”
Tyler Magill says it’s crucial to expand our definition of white supremacy. “We as a society just don’t take far right extremists seriously,” he says. “We think of it as rednecks [and] trailer park people when it’s not—it’s everybody. The people at the Capitol riot tended to be middle class and above, and the same happened in Charlottesville.”
Other activists have warned that arrests or the threat of arrests will not be enough to deter far-right extremism on—and after—Inauguration Day, pointing to white supremacist calls for violence online.
“We know that they’re not finished,” says Gathers. “I’m fearful for what may happen on the 20th of January, not only in D.C. but really all across the county.”
And though Biden’s inauguration, and the end of Trump’s term, will be a cathartic moment for many, Conn emphasizes that it won’t solve our problems overnight. After the inauguration, she anticipates more white supremacist violence across the country, and says she doesn’t expect President Biden to handle the situation in the best possible manner. Instead, she fears the new administration will ramp up its counterterrorism programs, which are “typically anti-Muslim and anti-Black,” she says.
“The change of the administration doesn’t change the fact that the system of white supremacy is embedded in the fabric of what we call America,” she explains. “We cannot expect [anything from] an administration that condemns uprisings stemming from state violence against Black and brown folks but calls for unity without resolve.”
Gathers also does not agree with the calls for unity made after the riot. “You can’t and shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists, and that’s who we seem to be dealing with,” he says.
However, both activists hope that now more people will not only see white supremacy as a serious threat, but actively work to dismantle it.
“We’ve got to figure out how to change not only laws, but hearts and minds,” says Gathers. “If what we saw [at the Capitol]…and in Charlottesville in 2017 wasn’t enough to turn people around, I’m not sure what it’s going to take.”