All in Civil Unrest

Five months later: what we know about the Capitol riot

Five months later: what we know about the Capitol riot

Tatiana Prophet
Civil Unrest

By Tatiana Prophet

The truth is bad enough. It doesn’t need embellishment. That’s why we’re taking a look at how reporting has changed about the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, and what we now know.

We’ve all seen the videos and photos, especially of the violent entry by some of the participants, and most noticeably, the man who pinned a police officer with a riot shield, causing the officer to cry for help. We know that the day spiraled into bedlam and chaos. We know the police were not adequately supported; and we also know that there were certain individuals with a history of inciting violence who were not Trump supporters, doing that very thing on that day. And we also know that the American public was shaken by these images and events. It felt like a violation to all of us. Metro Police Department chief Robert Contee reported that 56 officers were injured in the day’s events.

Initial reporting, and for many months after the event, repeatedly called the event “deadly” and an “insurrection,” even before it was over. T

Two Capitol insurgents made previous headlines at climate, BLM events

Two Capitol insurgents made previous headlines at climate, BLM events

Tatiana Prophet
Civil Unrest

Two of the most visible antagonists at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol melee had previously made headlines — literally — for their over-the-top performances in protests of a much different kind.

Jake Angeli was wearing his same “shaman” outfit at a Phoenix climate protest in September 2019. While he was pictured carrying a sign “Q Sent Me” on Jan. 6, at the Maricopa County Courthouse he carried a sign stating “The poles are shifting! The ice caps are melting! This is Ragnarok! It’s time to wake up!” Ragnarok is the final battle of Norse mythology. This was published in the Arizona Republic in an article that described the crowd as “in the hundreds.”

But it seems that by February 2020, Angeli’s views had shifted toward supporting Donald Trump — or at least picking up the cause of the Q movement, according to an article in USA Today in which they cited the Arizona Republic (under common ownership with USA Today, by Gannett), as the source.