I've Experienced U.S. Capitol Security Firsthand — And It Was Nothing Like The Rioters Saw

Trump supporter Richard Barnett holds a piece of mail as he sits inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after protesters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Capitol Police once told a well-known health care and disability rights activist that she had to take a “Save Medicaid” button off of her daughter’s wheelchair because it was a political slogan. “The treatment my friends and I experience at the Capitol as advocates and activists stands in stark contrast with the way the Proud Boys and other rioters were treated on Jan. 6.” I have been in the Capitol when disabled protesters were literally dragged out of their wheelchairs and swiftly arrested for protesting after the Capitol Police deftly blocked the hallway where they had gathered. Even more concerning, the insurrection was planned for a day when both Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the first and second people in line for succession to the presidency, were present in the Capitol, and there were explicit calls to “Hang Mike Pence.” I have lived in D.C. for over 20 years and have never been afraid of going to protest or just being near one. This disparity in the way white supremacist terrorists and Black Lives Matter protesters were treated was blatant enough to be noted by President-elect Joe Biden when he said that “no one can tell me that if that had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol.” Yet I do not expect anything to change.