The relatively small number of arrests after a mob stormed the Capitol left many environmental activists shaken Thursday — and wanting answers. Why did so many people who brought destruction into the home of American democracy simply walk away after doing so much damage, not just to a building but to the nation’s sense of itself?
The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., a minister and community activist who heads the Hip Hop Caucus, a civil and human rights group, called the sight of the rioters being led out of the Capitol seemingly without repercussions "heartbreaking.” Yearwood has a long history of protest on a range of issues and has been arrested, and even beaten, as a result.
"We know we’re going to go through that punishment” as part of fighting for cleaner energy, for environmental justice, for a better world, he said. "Up until yesterday, I thought, ‘This is how it’s done. You stop business, you’re going to be arrested, you’re going to be treated this way,'” he said.