Some Asian Americans joined white supremacists at Capitol coup attempt

TWITTER

The Indian tri-color was spotted among the sea of U.S. banners.

Not all of the insurrectionists who attacked the nation's Capitol were white. Vietnamese, Filipino and Indian Americans took part in the unprecedented attempted coup.

The overwhelming majority of the insurgents were white -- many of them identified as white supremacists, advocating violence and vandalism as a form of protest against the outcome of the Presidential election that saw their candidate Donald Trump lose the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden. 

However, among the thousands who stormed the Capitol Wednesday, observers, videos and photos spotted people carrying flags of Vietnam and India. One individual identified as Filipino carried a walis, a broom used in the Philippines.

Among AAPI groups, Donald Trump had the greatest support among Vietnamese and Filipino Americans, according to AAPIVote and APIAData. Indian Americans were the most likely to vote for the Democratic opponents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

"Those who carry this flag (of Vietnam) in front of the Capitol not only do not speak for us, they betray our most fundamental values," said a statement released by PIVOT, a progressive Vietnamese American organization. "We condemn those who peddle widely discredited lies and who stop at nothing in furthering their political cause. They have desecrated our flag for their misguided, hateful, dangerous and failed insurrection."

The appearance inside the Capitol building of a Filipino carrying a walis and wearing an American flag as a cape, a mask, goggles and a Nazi helmet caused at least one individual to try to the learn more about the individual dubbed "Walis Man."

Jonathan de Santos said walis man "was pretty easy to find on Facebook.

The pro-Trump Asian Americans may not have been white but they are products of colonization, made to believe that anything white is superior to anything not white. 

E.J. Ramos, author of "Brown Skin, White Minds" tweeted

"My peoples are complex & diverse & colonized & messed up," but, he wrote. it "doesn't take away the fact that the problem is white supremacy."

Another Twitter users wrote:

In one of numerous videos of the planned takeover of the Capitol, the Indian national flag could be seen being waved amongst the sea of American flags and blue-coloured flags in support of Trump's another term.

The flag-waver, Indian American Vinson Xavier wrote on Twitter, "American patriots – Vietnamese, Indian, Korean and Iranian origins, and from so many other nations and races – who believe massive voter fraud has happened joined the rally yesterday in solidarity with Trump. Peaceful protesters who were exercising our rights."

The attempted coup intended to disrupt Congress' certification of the Electoral College votes. The mob takeover of the Capitol did disrupt Congress, which was meeting in a joint session of both Houses of Congress. After six hours, the Representatives and Senators reconvened to make certify the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. 

The unprecedented takeover of the building resulted in five deaths including one of the police officers protecting Congress.

Police and the FBI are going over the thousands of photos and videos, many of which were posted on social media by the riotors themselves) to identify the Capitol ransackers.and arrest them for trespassing, vandalism. As of Saturday, 18 people face criminal charges. More arrests are expected as friends and family identify the vandals.

"The lawless destruction of the U.S. Capitol building was an attack against one of our Nation's greatest institutions," said acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin in a news release Friday.

"My Office, along with our law enforcement partners at all levels, have been expeditiously working and leveraging every resource to identify, arrest, and begin prosecuting these individuals who took part in the brazen criminal acts at the U.S. Capitol."

Steven D'Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, added, "Just because you've left the DC region you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol,"