Many Feel Storming Of U.S. Capitol Was Allowed To Happen, And It Highlights Double Standards When It Comes To Race
CHICAGO (CBS) -- While many were appalled at the storming of the U.S. Capitol that played out in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, many also insisted it also highlights the double standards that protesters of different races face in this country.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, some believe the riot at the Capitol on Wednesday was allowed to happen.
Despite the blatant rioting and mob actions that took place at the Capitol on Wednesday, the number of people arrested was few and limited out of D.C. Many were left wondering how the group breached Capitol Hill.
But those in the Black community were asking a different question – if the group had been Black, could they have gotten so close to begin with?
Video showed rioters breaking windows and scaling the walls of the Capitol while Congress was in session. It had people around the world questioning what happened to security.
"There should have been all kinds of preparation for something like this," said political consultant Delmarie Cobb.
Cobb pointed out what many in the Black community expressed as a double standard – especially in how a mostly white crowd that turned to mob action was treated.
"Is it because you think, well, white people are not going to loot? They're not going to be unruly? They're going to protest civilly?" Cobb said.
Last June, police in riot gear protected the Capitol – keeping Black Lives Matter protesters at bay.
"We know that there is a very big difference in how we're perceived as an automatic threat, and how white people - even armed white people - are not considered an automatic threat," Cobb said.
DePaul University terror expert Tom Mockaitis went further to say if this breach of democracy had involved Black people, "They would have used aggressive, overwhelming force, and very probably lethal force, because there is a double standard. I hate to say it."
It is a double standard that many Blacks and minorities expressed on social media as they watched the actions of the mob overtaking the congressional floor.
Cobb pointed out how prepared police in Kenosha, Wisconsin were just Tuesday in the decision not to charge officers in the Jacob Blake shooting.
"And so the whole city was prepared for rioting and looting and whatever, and civil unrest," she said. "But here, you knew weeks in advance, and you don't prepare?"
As of late Wednesday night in D.C., there had been at least 52 people arrested. Earlier, there were reports of only 13.
An estimated 2,000 officers work for Capitol Police.
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