The Jan. 6 Insurrection as seen by minority members of Congress

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Three years ago, rinsurrections broke down the doors and vandalized the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results.

January 6 marked the third anniversary of the  2021 Insurrection and attack on the US Capitol.

It is a day that will never be forgotten by members of Congress, especially members of the Congressional Tri-Caucus representing Asian, Black, Latino American members of Congress, many of whom were in the United States Capitol when it was stormed by  thousands of rioters egged on by Donald Trump.

The Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus—Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-4), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44)— released the following joint statement:

“America deserves a democracy that works for everyone, including communities of color, but throughout our history, sinister actors have spread lies, fomented corruption and broken laws to violently overturn electoral results and the will of the people. January 6, 2021, was a call-back to the most egregious, brutal incidents of our past in an attempt to silence communities of color and allow an electoral loser to cling to power.

“The criminal conspiracy to violently overturn the will of the American people failed on January 6, 2021, thanks to the incredible valor of law enforcement and the pro-democracy leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer in Congress. Members of the Tri-Caucus have been instrumental in managing and publicizing the findings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, under the leadership of Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, which clearly catalogued the ways nefarious actors tried to subvert the results of the 2020 election. 

"While many insurrectionists have been held accountable for their actions on January 6 at the US Capitol by everyday Americans on juries, many of the leaders and co-conspirators who bankrolled, planned, and incited the attack remain free, as candidates for public office, or even as officials still in public office. 

"Meanwhile, federal and state legislators across the country continue their assault on voting rights and the strength of our democracy in service of their ultimate goal: restrict our freedoms and do the bidding of the wealthy few.

“We are committed to supporting ongoing law enforcement efforts to hold every criminal conspirator accountable and to pass additional federal legislation beyond the Electoral Count Reform Act, like the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to protect, secure and strengthen every American’s voting rights. Only when that happens will we as a nation begin to fully reckon with January 6.”

A day after the attack on the Capitol, Rep. Mark Takano told NBC:

"Let's face it ... the crowd was largely an angry white crowd and quite menacing," he said, adding,  "I think members who are racial minorities, whether Asian, Latino or African American, I certainly think seeing a crowd like that, a crowd that was angry, largely white, with grievances, certainly would have been unnerving, to say the least."

After the insurrectionists left the building, Rep. Andy Kim spent some time picking up debris and broken glass. A picture of him cleaning up the Capitol Rotunda went viral. "What I did wasn't heroic," said the New Jersey Congressman. "It was service. And we need a lot more of that."

Friday, in an MSNBC interview, Kim called those Republicans "cowards," who immediatdly after the attack cnodemened the Jan. 6 violence, but now are embracing Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House in 2024. 

Since the 2021 insurrection, hundreds of participants have been convicted and sentencd and Donald Trump's role in rallying the riotors to break into the Capitol is under investigation by a special investigator.

Meanwhile,Trump put his own spin on what happened three years ago despite the convictions and visual evidence showing the rioters breaking into the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from formally validating the 2020 election.

"They ought to release the J6 hostages. They’ve suffered," Trump said, during a campaign rally in Iowa. "I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners. I call them hostages. Release the J6 hostages Joe. Release them Joe. You can do it real easy, Joe."

“Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States,” said President Joe Biden a day before the Jan. 6 anniversary. “It has no place in a democracy. You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.