After pro-Trump protestors managed to scale the walls of the U.S. Capitol building and breach the building, many wondered how it was possible for a federal building to be compromised so easily considering the violent suppression of Black Lives Matter protestors, with Donald Trump alarmingly declaring, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." The violent riot that happened on Wednesday resulted in 52 arrests being made, while protests over the announcement of the verdict in the case of the police shooting of Breonna Taylor resulted in nearly 130 people being arrested, which is more than double the arrests made at the U.S. Capitol.
Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman who died in March after police broke into her home and opened fire on her while she was asleep, sparking national outrage and protests. The death prompted an investigation against the three Louisville officers involved, but only resulted in one officer being charged with wanton endangerment stemming from a shooting in a neighboring apartment. None of the officers faced harsher punishment.
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee chief confirmed that 52 people had been arrested in connection to the violent storming on the hill by pro-Trump rioters in protest of Congress formalizing the 2020 presidential election results. 26 of those arrested were detained on Capitol Grounds, with 47 of the total arrests being associated with violating the citywide curfew that was placed on the city Wednesday night by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Following the riots, Philly-bred rapper Meek Mill called the United States the "most racist in the world," and with this new comparative data, it is very hard to deny the apparent double-standard in American law enforcement.