Yesterday Americans and the world watched with horror as a mob, incited by President Donald J. Trump, stormed the Capitol of the United States with Confederate flags and Donald Trump banners. In addition to disrupting the lawful certification of this year’s Presidential election, the mob action led to the death of four people (one woman shot by the Capitol Police and 3 who died from medical emergencies suffered during the riot, according to current news reports) and the injury of a number of law enforcement officers. Despite this, the President said on video to this violent mob “We love you. You’re very special people.” And he said this after repeating the lies associated with his assertion that the election was stolen from him.
We call this assertion a lie, not because Democrats say it is untruthful, but because the President’s own appointees (Attorney General William Barr and Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Christopher C. Krebs), Republican governors and election officials across the nation, and Republican-appointed judges (including Supreme Court justices appointed by this President) have said that his statements are without evidence, at best, and untruthful, at worst. As we learned tragically yesterday, lies have serious consequences.
In light of all that’s happened we are asking:
1. That we offer our prayers and support to the four families that have lost loved ones in this wholly tragic and entirely avoidable assault on democracy and the rule of law.
2. That the President be held fully accountable for his part in inciting a riot/insurrection that led to the loss of life, the destruction of property, and the disruption of our democratic process.
3. That any and all members of the violent mob be identified, arrested and prosecuted.
4. That pastors and laypeople—Black, Latinx, and especially white evangelicals—who have echoed or remained silent about this President’s current or past lies and incitements, examine their own complicity and repent.
5. That Trump supporters, and especially Republican politicians who have supported or failed to speak out against this President’s lies and incitements, examine their complicity and be held accountable by their constituents.
6. That the law enforcement response to yesterday’s mob violence be investigated to see why it appears that the level of preparedness for and response to this mob action were quite different from what happened during Black Lives Matter marches in Washington, DC and across the nation.
7. That we fast and pray for a country so deeply divided that it can’t even unite to fight a viral pandemic.
Ours is a nation born with ideals of liberty and equality, even as its history has also been a tale of slavery, segregation, and continuing inequality and inequity. Yesterday’s mob action was another sordid episode in that history. In the wake of that episode, perhaps the hardest question for all of us to address is, “What kind of nation are we, if this is the kind of leadership we’ve chosen and supported?” We may not know the full answer to that question for some time, but this much we painfully learned yet again yesterday—lies have serious consequences.
