I was no general, field grade officer, or even an officer in 1970. Just a three-strip Sergeant in my 3rd year stationed at Lejeune drinking the water and bathing in it. Someone had a brilliant idea we should be trained in riot control since Camp Lejeune was not far from Washington D.C. Some elements out of Fort Bragg would join us. As we were Federal soldiers, our facing civilians is frowned upon. In any case, we were trained, never called out, and we spent some weekends on base due to something happening. I put this post up because the House Sergeant at Arms has a point. If these rioters were Black Americans, Federal soldiers would have been called out and some people would have been shot. Race was a factor in determining what actions
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run75441 considers the following as important: January 6, Journalism, law, law enforcement response, politics
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I was no general, field grade officer, or even an officer in 1970. Just a three-strip Sergeant in my 3rd year stationed at Lejeune drinking the water and bathing in it.
Someone had a brilliant idea we should be trained in riot control since Camp Lejeune was not far from Washington D.C. Some elements out of Fort Bragg would join us. As we were Federal soldiers, our facing civilians is frowned upon.
In any case, we were trained, never called out, and we spent some weekends on base due to something happening.
I put this post up because the House Sergeant at Arms has a point.
If these rioters were Black Americans, Federal soldiers would have been called out and some people would have been shot. Race was a factor in determining what actions would be taken. This is the same as what would have occurred in the seventies if we were called out.
“The head of the District of Columbia National Guard told the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, he believed the law enforcement response would have been “vastly different” if the majority of the rioters had been Black. This comment came is a newly-released transcript revealed.” 20220421_William J. Walker_Redacted.pdf, house.gov.
Jan. 6 response would have been ‘vastly different’ if rioters were Black, House sergeant at arms told investigators, nbcnews.com, Jose Luis Magana.
Rioters at the Capitol, January 6, 2021
WASHINGTON — The House Sergeant at Arms, who was the head of the D.C. National Guard, was telling the Jan. 6 committee the law enforcement response would have looked much different had the rioters been Black Americans.
“I’m African American. Child of the sixties. I think it would have been a vastly different response if those were African Americans trying to breach the Capitol.”
William J. Walker told congressional investigators, in an interview transcript released Tuesday.
“As a career law enforcement officer, part-time soldier, last five years full but, but a law enforcement officer my entire career, the law enforcement response would have been different.”
William J. Walker’s testimony is echoes the observations of many Americans and also President Joe Biden. The observations note the stark difference in the law enforcement response to protests in Washington. And this following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and the lax security at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
William J. Walker was the Sergeant at Arms and also the head of theWashington DC National Guard during the insurrection. He thought more people in the crowd would have died if the mob had been largely Black instead of overwhelmingly white.
“You know, as a law enforcement officer, there were — I saw enough to where I would have probably been using deadly force,” he said. “I think it would have been more bloodshed if the composition would have been different.”
Walker, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official became the House Sergeant at Arms in April 2021. He described his personal experiences with discriminatory law enforcement stops, and discussed having “the talk” with his five children and his granddaughter about surviving police encounters as a Black American. Walker . . .
“You’re looking at somebody who would get stopped by the police for driving a high-value government vehicle. No other reason,”
The D.C. National Guard was not authorized to assist at the Capitol on Jan. 6 until after a delay of 3 hours and 19 minutes. That delay is recorded in the House committee’s report pins on a “likely miscommunication between members of the civilian leadership in the Department of Defense.”
Walker told investigators that it was clear to him beforehand that Jan. 6 was going to be a “big deal” just from being aware of what was happening in the world.
“I’m an intelligence officer … to me, the intelligence was there that this was going to be a big deal.”
He was citing evidence from the civil unrest in November and December when Trump supporters came to Washington. It was a big deal and we were unprepared.