Whither democracy? Americans weigh in on siege of the Capitol
Across America on Wednesday the stunning footage of mob violence and destruction in the U.S. Capitol produced in many citizens reactions almost akin to electric shocks.
In Sacramento, California, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Noel Lipana felt as if he were watching news streaming in from another country, troubled and far away.
“We talk about being a guiding light and a bastion of democracy, about upholding certain ideals, and it just exploded,” says Colonel Lipana, who served a combat tour of Afghanistan in 2008.
In Savannah, Georgia, the Rev. Guillermo Arboleda, the missioner of racial justice at the diocese of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, saw the same images and thought of his Instagram feed, where he’d just seen old black-and-white photos of the civil rights era colorized to put them in contemporary context.
“It just [reminded] me that American history is not a history of racial progress, but a history of racial progress that is met almost every single time with
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