You’re sitting on the couch, remote in hand clicking through channels. As you begin surfing you realize every news station is displaying the same live content. In interest you watch the unexpected take place. You witness the same place where laws are made, presidents are inaugurated and democracy is embraced, being walked upon by insurgents.

You fume. Your blood boils while realizing this is not a peaceful protest.

You wait. You don’t know what will happen to the congressmen and women inside.

You lose. You lose hope in not only the present but the future of America.

Warning: In this series of writing I will be addressing the unaddressed social topics that may be uncomfortable to some, from an activistic point of view.

January 6, 2021: The unthinkable happened when 2,000 to 2,500 Donald Trump supporters raided the US Capitol Building. Protesters to some, terrorists to others–regardless of the labels, here is how I felt.

Democracy entails the freedom to assemble without violence. Having an activistic mindset, I believe that standing up for what is right is an obligation. If what happened at the Capitol had been strictly a peaceful protest, it would have been somewhat just in my eyes. While researching the means of the riot, one of the rebuttals I came across was a comparison between what happened on Jan. 6 and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that took place. There is a self-evident contrast between the incident at the Capitol Building and Black Lives Matter.

The Jan. 6 rioters attacked a national building which enclosed our nation's congressmen and women, due to the fact that the votes were not in favor of their preferred candidate. Black Lives Matter was at the time, and still is, a movement with the social goal of equality. The fuel of the Capitol attack was a conspiracy of unfair democracy while the fuel of the Black Lives Matter movements is a threat on the lives of an entire race. Due to these drastic differences, these two topics do not equate.

While politics may be a significant part of someone’s life, I see their worldview as only a small aspect of who they are.

Having a diverse mindset is being able to tolerate and look past those differences you may have with one another. Personally, I have no issue connecting with a person who supports a different party or presidential candidate than me, because their political beliefs mean so little if their actions mean a lot. What I have a problem with is the killing of innocent lives and the threat on our nation’s congress during this act of support for Donald Trump. This left me almost hopeless for the future, as I thought to myself: What if something of this matter takes place again? If people are willing to go to these lengths over political controversy, what else are they capable of?

I was raised to accept the world to a certain degree, however I took that idea and ran with it. I have respect for every single person in this world that uses their inner activist to do good. No matter what background, political belief, sexual orientation, religious belief, race, gender identity or social status you may come from, I love you. Do not ever let anyone stop you from standing up for what you believe in as it is our God given right to speak, just do so in a way that makes a positive difference.