Racist Slurs and Bigotry: Frontline Law Enforcement Officers Share Harrowing Accounts of Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrection

Strategic Insights -

As lawmakers heard the testimonies of four police officers who faced racism and bigotry during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a chilling narrative emerged of Scores of rioters attacking police officers with racist slurs and accusations of treason. The officers, two from the U.S. Capitol Police and two from the D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department, provided harrowing accounts of the violent assault on the Capitol.

Key Takeaways:

  • Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn testified that a crowd of around 20 people hurled the N-word at him, saying "You hear that, guys, this n------ voted for Joe Biden!" after he argued that he voted for Biden.
  • Another Black male officer was told to "Put your gun down and we'll show you what kind of n---- you really are!" while confronting rioters on Jan. 6.
  • The panel's chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, pressed Dunn about how he felt being an African-American officer facing down racists and enduring racial slurs in the halls of democracy, to which Dunn replied, "It's just so disheartening that people like that will attack you just for the color of your skin."
  • Black Americans make up roughly 13% of the U.S. population, but were roughly 11% of all police officers in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
  • Over 71% of officers were white in 2016, making recruitment and diversity among U.S. police forces challenging.
  • Policing experts say the law enforcement profession has struggled with its origins in America, dating back to the slave patrols in the early 1700s formed to capture people who escaped slavery and terrorize the enslaved into submission.
  • Capitol Police Officer Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, an Iraq War veteran, called out the disparate law enforcement response to the overwhelmingly white crowd of rioters and the response to racial justice protests in 2020 that followed the murder of George Floyd.
  • Law enforcement agencies in dozens of cities last year showed overwhelming force toward BLM demonstrators, with more than 14,000 arrests by the end of 2020.

Statistics:

  • 29% of roughly 2,300 officers and civilians serving on the Capitol Police force are African-American.
  • Roughly 13% of the U.S. population is Black American.
  • Black Americans make up roughly 11% of all police officers in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
  • Over 71% of officers were white in 2016.

Sources:

  • Associated Press news wire, no date
  • U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Police Use of Force, 2016"
  • House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, no date
  • Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, no date
  • Associated Press, "AP's Race and Ethnicity team" (Twitter account)