What can one say, really, in the wake of the unprecedented insurrection taking place in Washington, D.C., as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol? Well, one thing that did not elude the notice of many, many people was that the Capitol Police had a decidedly different approach to previous protesters in and outside the home of the U.S. Congress—as recently as last summer during Black Lives Matter protests for racial equity in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and many other Black people around the country.
Consider the images you’ve seen today of the pro-Trump mob roaming around the Capitol, even posing for photos and making a statement at the podium of the Senate chamber. Then look at these photos below and see if you can discern what might be different.
Stephanie Woodward, of Rochester, New York, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, is removed from a sit-in at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office as she and other disability rights advocates protest proposed funding caps to Medicaid, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
[Photo: AP/Shutterstock]
Black Lives Matter plaza on November 13, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
[Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images]
U.S. Capitol Police arrest a protester demonstrating against a Senate Republican healthcare bill, outside the office of Senator Patrick Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2017.
[Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images]
National Guard members deploy near the White House as peaceful protests are scheduled against police brutality and the death of George Floyd, on June 6, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
[Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
A man is arrested by police after trying to enter the Black Lives Matter plaza, which has been closed off due to expected demonstrations, on December 11, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
[Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images]
Capitol Police officers arrest a demonstrator dressed as a Handmaid’s Tale character during a protest against the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on October 22, 2020.
[Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images]
Protesters arrested on I Street near the intersection of 16th Street, June 1, 2020.
[Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images]
Capitol Police arrest protesters from handicap advocacy organizations as they shout and interrupt a Senate Finance Committee hearing about the proposed Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 25, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
