In November — just before the election — I wrote of our preparations in the event of possible civil unrest. Fortunately, we had our election, and — other than a lot of pot-stirring and attempts to create distrust and to thwart our democratic process — once again America seemed to move ahead.
Yesterday, a lot changed. I will choose my words conservatively — but we possibly had an attempted coup in Washington. This is shocking — not the way we do things in the United States.
An armed mob took possession of the U.S. Capitol for a period of time, threatening the safety of the Capitol Police, every member of Congress, Capitol staff, and guests and causing the need for our elected officials to be evacuated and hidden until the Capitol was finally secured. Many officers were injured and four people died.
We have always supported the right to protest peacefully but yesterday was not peaceful. If we respect police officers and public property we cannot condone yesterday’s mob while we criticize other protests. It is important to recognize that the demographics of this mob directly impacted the response by law enforcement and provides further evidence of the disparities that exist in our society and the pervasive norms of white privilege.
I was raised to believe the United States was a model for the world – often called “the shining city on the hill”. While American exceptionalism has many downsides as we look at the racism and inequity embedded in many of our institutions, we have always proclaimed we aspire to a high standard.
I do not believe a day like yesterday represents the people and the nation we want to be.
Hopefully like a family in crisis, yesterday was just a day where our worst selves took over from the better us. And — in the cold light of morning — hopefully, we will have the insight to regret how we acted and will work to change ourselves — expecting kindness instead of cruelty and responsibility instead of excess. And hopefully, we will ask our president to model how we can be a united nation as opposed to inciting division and distrust.
In the meantime, let each of us look at what unites us and not at what divides us. And let each of us demand the best of each other – starting with our leaders.
We are monitoring the national situation and will take appropriate action to protect staff as needed.
Thank you,
Edward Myers Hayes President and CEO
