On January 6, as I watched insurrectionists and white supremacists storm the U.S. Capitol—mere blocks from my apartment—I was most struck by the casual ease with which they were able to take over what I’d always believed to be one of the most secure buildings in the country, if not the world.
“Where is the National Guard?” I asked my husband as the mob began scaling the stone walls surrounding the Capitol. Minutes later, the insurrectionists were roaming the halls of Congress, defiling offices and statues, stealing documents and laptops. We’d later learn that many of them had every intention of harming elected officials. In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said it is “not an exaggeration” to say that many members of the House were “nearly assassinated.”