IN TOUCH WITH The Big Lie and Its Servants
Betty Miller Buttram
Of Fort Wayne Ink Spot
Proverbs 29:12 says: “If a ruler harkens to lies all his servants are wicked.”
On January 20, 2017, a man held up his right hand and put his left hand on the Bible and swore that he would preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States — so help him, God. He became America’s 45th President.
Less than four years to that day, as Congress was meeting to certify the 2020 election, that same man incited an insurrection. Frenzied from the President’s speech, a racist mob attacked guards and pillaged the U.S. Capitol. Some attempted to arrest and, possibly, kill members of Congress and anyone else who got in the way. The President’s people came with ladders, sledgehammers, zip ties, flagpoles, and all other kinds of weaponry.
The 45th President had lost the election and lied to his cult that his destiny had been stolen. Prevarication and falsehood had been a vice of his presidency, but this lie was the big one.
Something terrible happened in my hometown of Washington, D.C. on that day. This is the city where I was born, raised, and lived most of my life. It is a beautiful city filled with monuments, museums, art, culture, and home to countless visitors. It is the nation’s capital, the home to all its citizens.
Those of us who live or have lived in the Nation’s capital sometimes call it Federal City, the District, D.C., and of late, DMV, which stands for District/Maryland/Virginia. It is not a state. It is land that was purchased from Maryland and Virginia. The police departments of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia work together with the U.S. Park Service to protect the monuments, the museums, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the other federal buildings in the District and the metropolitan area.
There have been protests in D.C. and most of them have been peaceful. When the Million Man March came to Washington on October 16, 1995, led by Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, the DMV, the U.S. Park Police, and the National Guardsmen were all present fearing that all hell was going to break loose. It did not because the white folks stayed home, and the black folks came out. Black men came in quietly and left the same way. Police had geared up for a disturbance that did not occur.
You do not come to Washington, D.C. to march or protest and the Federal City does not know that you are coming. And when it wants to, Federal City’s establishment has summoned what it needs to keep the peace.
The people have the right to demonstrate or march according to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
However, a permit is required to march. The DMV, the U.S. Capitol Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Department of Defense had the intelligence about these rioters, but the DMV could do nothing to bolster protection without the approval of the Defense Department. That is how it works. It’s an ancient command system.
The DMV cannot go in to protect these buildings without the approval of the U.S. Department of Defense – they’re on federal property. D.C.’s mayor called the Governors of Maryland and Virginia about the riot for their assistance. She called the U.S. Department of Defense for permission for the Maryland and Virginia State Troopers to come into the city to assist the D.C. Metropolitan Police in aiding the Capitol Police. They waited for nearly three hours before hearing from the Defense Department. The ensuing battle is well documented, as is the president’s apparent glee as he witnessed the rampage.
The fear of mobs like these is the potential loss of what they consider is their privilege. The fear of that loss has caused their hatred. The nation has passed laws to protect and enable people of color, immigrants, gender, and women to have equal footing. This is not a privilege. This is equal rights for all.
When D.C.’s mayor issued the directive “Stay Home. Curfew at 6 pm,” Black folks there knew what she meant: “Black folks stay off the streets. This is not your fight. Get indoors by 6 and stay put.”
The 45th President would like to have a military sendoff with music playing and flags waving. This man has no shame. In my many readings of books and other publications, I came across this quotation: “Ignorance can be educated, Crazy can be medicated, but there is no cure for Stupid.”
To the mob that is tied into their leader’s mentality, I leave you with the above quotation and Proverbs 29:16: “When rulers are wicked, their people are too; but the good men will live to see the tyrant’s downfall.”