I’ve seen arguments made that yesterday’s attack on the Capitol was an example of “white privilege.” I don’t think this is a good example of that. Consequences: 4 dead, 50+ arrested, and an active FBI search for other rioters. A sizable number of these folks will be charged with a whole lot more than trespassing.
The contention that the insurrectionists breached the Capitol because they are white ignores that they were aided and abetted by the President himself, a sizable number of the GOP, and the rightwing media (and perhaps some of the Capitol Police themselves). The Capitol Police were completely outmanned and, I suspect by Trump’s own design, other security and law enforcement personnel were not readily available.
This wasn’t a “white America” revolution. It was about thwarting the will of the people to keep a frankly insane man in power. I saw more antisemitic and anti-media slogans than anti-minority ones. I’m sure there’s a lovely overlapping Venn diagram of the insurrectionists’ beliefs about Jews, Blacks, and the media. It may not be so tight as to form a perfect circle, but I don’t think there’s many of us who’d be surprised if it were pretty close.
So I’m not saying that the insurrectionists aren’t racist or that some in the GOP aren’t or that the rightwing media isn’t. Some aren’t, but I am certain that many of them are. But that’s not what’s at play in this instance. This wasn’t a racially motivated event. As heretical as it may sound to some, not everything is about race. (In fact most things aren’t, or at least shouldn’t be, but that’s another discussion.)
So if we’re talking about racial privilege, this is a bad example. These traitors to the country will be lucky if they’re not hung from the highest rafters—which is frankly what I think should happen. If you think the response would have been different had this been minorities attacking the Capitol, I agree: Trump would have had the place armed to the gills with the DC National Guard—we know that’s true because we’ve already seen his response to peaceful(!) BLM marches in May 2020. But that’s an argument for his racism (or perhaps narcissism), not “white privilege” generally.