“It felt like it was out of a movie. It felt like: how is this real life?” said Xochitl Krumbiegel ’23 of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. “I was surprised that President Trump was able to get that many people to rally.”
One senior, who chose to remain anonymous, felt less surprised as she surveyed Twitter news threads that afternoon. “It just felt like the natural evolution of everything that’s been going on, not just those four years but decades and centuries before,” she said looking back.
One year after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol students at Smith College reflect on the events. Most students watched the attack unfold from home due to Smith’s Covid-19 restrictions. Now, with students back on campus, the anniversary provides an opportunity to examine Jan. 6 by sharing knowledge and experiences.
Students have had opportunities to examine political violence in class. Loretta Ross’s “White Supremacy in the Age of Trump” and Erin Pineda’s “Conceptualizing Democracy” last term discussed a long Western tradition of racist violence and America’s precarious democracy, giving students context for when events like this insurrection occur.
“We had spent an entire semester studying these [right-wing] groups and things related to white supremacy,” Rebecca Alvara ’23 said, who took both courses. She learned that “transitions of powers are more complicated than I realized” and that the presidential change of power last Jan. directly inspired protesters to attempt a coup.
Krumbiegel agreed. “It’s intimidating to see how there can be an effective democracy if there are always going to be people opting for violence.”
The attack against America’s democracy relied on racist idealization of a racially-separated America — many protesters carried Confederate flags and were members of white supremacist groups. Up until inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol, Trump united his base through xenophobic and racist comments and policies.
Smith students have lived experiences with racist violence beyond its influence on the insurrection. “Communities like mine are very familiar with experiencing white violence,” Robynne Lucas ’22 said, “The violence was not that shocking, but it’s who they were doing it to that was.”
Lucas referred to the hundreds of accounts of police violence against Black Americans that bookended the Jan. 6 incident in the years 2020 and 2021. In 2020, the FBI reported the highest hate crime rates in 13 years, with 56 percent of race-based cases involving Black victims.
Alvara said that on Jan. 6 protesters attacked a “symbol” of American democracy. She agreed with Lucas and said this time the white male leaders who dominate the American legislature also experienced the manifestation of white nationalist anger.
Protesters’ presence on campus has also provided students with opportunities to reflect on the Jan 6th violence. This fall, Smith College’s choice to invite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought community members with “Blue Lives Matter” flags and pro-Trump signs to campus, similar to those in the crowd of the insurrection.
“That feeling carried on from Jan. 6,” Krumbiegel said, “having patriotism be equated to Trump”— and the presence of Trumpism or right-wing protesting feeling inherently violent.
Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and white supremacists often rely on antisemitism in their movements, denying the Holocaust and fearing a “secret” majority of Jewish leaders running the government. Many groups at the insurrection tied back to these myths in their signage and clothing.
Considering the connection between Jan. 6th and antisemitism, one member of the Smith College Jewish Community (SCJC), who decided to be anonymous, said the campus community has a long way to come “in response to these kinds of events.”
“Whenever we do acknowledge that something affected the Jewish community, we often get a lot of pushback, like ‘why are the Jewish students making this about them’ or ’this isn’t really antisemitic,’” they said. “I think there’s a lot of discomfort around the fact that antisemitism does exist.”
But this student said SCJC has struggled to respond to other antisemitic events because white violence harms multiple groups. “That’s something we’ve talked a lot about this year — centering antisemitism … and also using the voice we do have to help other communities.”
With every student that leaves Smith, the institution loses political knowledge and activist history. Covid-19 has contributed to this memory loss, considering students have shuffled their graduation plans and such events as the insurrection happened when campus was closed. It proves the importance of remembering events that cause harm to marginalized communities, standing in solidarity as a community and uplifting student activism.
