Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
The contrast between the security preparations in the nation’s capital for Black Lives Matters protests last summer and the mob attack last week reveals a “double standard,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said.
But the difference in the level of security at the two events is more likely due to previous property destruction and a lack of planning by Capitol police, a local police chief said, and not race.
Brown, D-Ohio, and Wright State University sociology professor Jessica Penwell Barnett said race was a factor.
“The U.S. Capitol invasion, insurrection absolutely proved the double standard,” said Brown. “We saw when Black Lives Matter were at the Lincoln Memorial, and nobody works inside the Lincoln Memorial, nobody is there except Abe Lincoln in marble sitting on a chair ... You contrast that with what happened (last) week and it’s pretty clear.”
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed after the mob overpowered law enforcement Wednesday while lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes and forced their way into the building. They ransacked the Capitol building and stole property. By the end of the day, about 60 people were arrested, and many key figures among the group have been arrested the past several days.
In comparison, hundreds of police officers and D.C. National Guard members stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial as Black Lives Matter held a protest in June. The event was part of hundreds of protests across the country after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
