Black activists say Jan. 6 insurrection was part of white supremacist playbook

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali.
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC

African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie

Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

Image of the first black members of Congress

Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom

The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200

One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

NOW: Free At Last?

Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall

Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville

Special Exhibits

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

January 6, 2022

By Jessica Floyd, The Grio

EXCLUSIVE: Voting rights advocates connect Capitol attack to racial riots throughout history that sought a common goal to strike fear in Black voters and anyone who validated their political power.

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter received a call from the Federal Bureau of Investigations on Jan. 6, 2021 notifying her of credible threats against her life.

She evacuated her home in Georgia that day. Miles away in Washington, D.C., federal lawmakers took cover and hid from an assault on the U.S. Capitol building.

“[My co-founder] Cliff and I had to move our families from our homes and go stay at safe houses for 10 days,” Brown exclusively told theGrio. “On January 6, you know, not only were we witnessing an attack on the Capitol, we were also dealing with the fact of our own safety issues.”

Co-founder Black Voters Matter LaTosha Brown speaks as other voting rights activists listen during a “Rally for D.C. Statehood,” the last stop of BVM’s “Freedom Ride for Voting Rights” bus tour, at the National Mall June 26, 2021 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Brown and other voting rights advocates pin the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6 on white supremacists. Additionally, the proponents of voting rights connect the riot at the Capitol to racial riots throughout history that sought a common goal: to strike fear in Black voters and anyone who validated their political power.

Read the full article here.

Learn more about the January 6, 2021 Capitol building riot here and here.

More Breaking News here.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.