Capitol Riot

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/25/2021
  

  The Capitol Siege wasn’t like the ‘Third World.’ It was Uniquely American

  by Benjamin R. Young

  American leaders who compared the Capitol riots to "Third World" politics were right, but not in the way that they meant: the US has long used political violence as a tool to sustain right-wing leadership in the developing world. 

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• SOURCE: The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow
  1/22/2021
  

  Keri Leigh Merritt on White Myths, Lost Causes & True History

  A discussion of the continued relevance of Confederate Lost Cause mythology in the January 6 Capitol riots. 

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• SOURCE: The Intercept
  1/23/2021
  

  Capitol Attack was Culmination of Generations of Far-Right Extremism

  Historians Robin D.G. Kelley and Greg Grandin discuss the historical relationship between white supremacy and political violence in the US. 

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• 1/24/2021
  

  Will Eugene Goodman Share the Fate of Frank Wills?

  by Adam Henig

  Congress and the nation have celebrated the heroic actions of Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who distracted a mob to give members of Congress time to reach safety. When his momentary fame fades, Goodman deserves better than another unexpected hero, Watergate security guard Frank Wills. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  1/21/2021
  

  Why the Mob Thought Attacking the Capitol was their ‘1776 Moment’

  by Franita Tolson

  "The pro-Trump insurrectionists seeking to replicate 1776 ignore that America has consistently recommitted itself to democracy in the two centuries since the Revolution — choosing voting over violence and ballots over bullets."

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  1/18/2021
  

  Washington Must Treat White Supremacist Terrorism as a Transnational Threat

  by Joel Rubin

  A former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state argues that the threat of far-right political violence demands a stepped-up response from law enforcement.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/18/2021
  

  The Challenges of Teaching the Constitution in the Age of Trump

  by Nikolas Bowie

  The Constitution has long been used for antidemocratic purposes; the vigorous enforcement of the Reconstruction amendments' guarantees of multiracial democracy was the historical aberration. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Monthly
  1/15/2021
  

  Impeach Trump, But Not for What He Said on January 6th

  by Jonathan Zimmerman

  There's ample justification for Trump's second impeachment in his pattern of disregard for democracy and efforts to subvert the vote count. But reviving the charge of incitment of insurrection opens the door to ideological prosecution and the suppression of free speech. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/15/2021
  

  In a Civil War, Accountability Must Precede Healing

  by Melody Barnes and Caroline E. Janney

  "With no consequences for their acts of rebellion, the months after Appomattox saw former Confederates regain local and state control and bend it to their purposes."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/19/2021
  

  Hamilton and Lincoln Warned of a Mobocracy. Trump Brought Their Fears to Life

  by Andrew F. Lang

  Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln both feared demagogues who might corrupt the body politic and turn a free citizenry against the democratic institutions that safeguarded their liberty.

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• SOURCE: Public Seminar
  1/21/2021
  

  Embracing Democracy: The Storming of the US Capitol and the Positive Lessons of Weimar Germany

  by Andrew I. Port

  A 1922 political assassination rallied the German public and political class against the far right. The Weimar Republic's failure to consolidate itself around the idea of democracy shows that the January 6 Capitol riot cannot be allowed to fade from discussion lest the authoritarian beliefs behind it return even stronger.

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  1/18/2021
  

  The Long Prologue to the Capitol Hill Riot

  Historian Kathleen Belew notes the continuities in far-right and white power culture that have endured since the 1970s and were on display in the Capitol riot. 

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• SOURCE: FAIR
  1/15/2021
  

  Keri Leigh Merritt on the New Lost Cause

  Independent historian Keri Leigh Merritt talks with FAIR's CounterSpin about the problem with the media calling the January 6 Capitol riots "unprecedented." 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/15/2021
  

  Trump Could be Sued for Damages under the Federal Ku Klux Klan Act

  by Thomas Geoghegan

  A lawyer and labor advocate suggests that Donald Trump's actions both before and on January 6 expose him to civil liability under the Ku Klux Klan act of 1871. 

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• SOURCE: Slate
  1/14/2021
  

  Reconstruction Offers No Easy Answers for How to Handle the Trump Insurgency

  by Rebecca Onion

  It's tricky to draw any definitive lessons about how to deal with the Capitol insurgents from Reconstruction, particularly since many facile "lessons from history" make counterfactual assumptions. Historian Cynthia Nicoletti discusses the complex imperatives of justice, punishment, reconciliation, and national reunification that contributed to the course of Reconstruction.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/10/2021
  

  The Attempted Insurrection was Only Part of the Right’s Anti-Democratic Playbook

  by Melissa DeVelvis and DJ Polite

  The overthrow of Reconstruction in South Carolina involved a symbiotic relationship between white political leaders and a loose coalition of armed white vigilante groups. 

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• SOURCE: Salon
  1/18/2021
  

  My Grandfather was a Nazi. Our Family's Story of Complicity Shows Where the Road to Extremism Leads

  by Mary Louise Wells

  Republicans who continued to contest the legitimacy of the election after the Capitol riots should consider the German example, which shows the potential for disaster if people accept authoritarianism out of expediency.

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• 1/14/2020
  

  Historians, Insurrectionists and Fragile White Folks

  by James Brewer Stewart

  A historian of abolition and an advocate of racial justice argues that historians must reject the psychological framework of some recent popular antiracist books and learn from the history of activists embodying Frederick Douglass's call for a "moral revolution" through engagement with others.

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  1/12/2021
  

  Vikings, Crusaders, Confederates

  by Matthew Gabriele

  The far-right has combined a selective and outdated version of medieval history from popular culture to express values of racial superiority, aggressive masculinity and violence in defense of threatened values.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/12/2021
  

  By the People, for the People, but Not Necessarily Open to the People

  “'It breaks my heart that I can no longer access a building that has meant so much to me during my lifetime,' said Kenneth Bowling, a historian at George Washington University." Emily Badger writes that increased security will also impact the public spaces and parks accessible to the residents of the District.