January 6th Terrorist Attack

 So here I was in the middle of writing a boring blog post about my year in review, and white supremacists throw in a terrorist attack. I was just relaxing for a MINUTE, like crafting at my desk watching Netflix, and crap goes down. I can't say I'm surprised, since calls for violence from these organizations have been going for years. But still, it happened. And we have to confront it, not with some Facebook post saying "I condemn ALL violence," making some allusion to the summer protests as if there is equivalence there...

In the other blog post I was writing, I talked about the conversations reenactors need to have before returning to any events when COVID wanes. From what I've seen, many plan to continue with "business as usual," refusing any sort of changes. This attack on the Capitol is another example of escalation, after a summer of brutality towards protestors, violent rhetoric, and complete denial of a deadly pandemic. There cannot be "normal" for us anymore.

There are reenactors that downright refuse to wear a mask, despite the body count. There are reenactors cheering on the injuries of peaceful protestors. There are reenactors physically threatening other reenactors that speak out against racism. And there are reenactors supporting the terrorist attack on the Capitol. I've written about the complicated relationship the reenacting community has with the confederate flag and white supremacy and for the most part, any efforts have been ignored. I'm currently watching FB threads right now from reenactors who deny that white supremacists were involved in the first place; they spread the conspiracy theory that BLM or Antifa did it, despite the mountain of evidence saying otherwise. It's disgusting, and not just because they are racist, but because they cannot see basic facts before them.

We need to confront the ugly truth that we, as reenactors of history, have contributed to the violence that took place this week. I hear many people say "this is not who we are!" online, and then those same people doing absolutely nothing to change. Events were already dying, and it's getting a lot harder to explain we're not racist when someone three tents over tells the public slavery was "necessary." (Seriously, and people support this woman somehow). I'm embarrassed by a great number of people in the community.

Think about how gross it is to see the Confederate flag enter the Capitol in an act of terrorism. We helped put it there, either by actively supporting the hateful, racist rhetoric in our community or quietly allowing it without protesting. Our silence was and continues to be compliance, and this is what we get for it. This is who we are.

Start your conversations people. 

~Kristen

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/55572805