When the Class of 1942 graduated from Braddock High School, each student was given a handful of calling cards that included the student’s name and the words “Remember Pearl Harbor” printed across the bottom. These high school graduates were living in a scary time on high alert.
That motto about remembering the surprise attack that drew America into World War II six months earlier was a reminder of the freedoms that we stood to lose if we ever forgot about what happened on what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “a day that will live in infamy.” It gave many Americans strength.
For the same reason, “Remember Jan. 6” should be the rallying cry now. This time, the enemy came from within — homegrown and hell-bent to nullify the free election of the president of the United States by violent insurrection, attacking the nation’s Capitol. The damage would have been instantaneous had they succeeded, and it would have forever changed the definition of what it means to be American.
Last week, on the fifth anniversary of the attack, widely divergent versions of what happened on that day were replayed by some of our leaders and some of the participants. One version is a complete and self- serving break with reality, and the other version is the truth.
The newspaper headlines the day after the attack got it right. And raw video — some of it taken by the insurrectionists themselves — confirms the easily verifiable description of the attack that has been accepted by free-thinking Americans.
The New York Times led with “Trump Incites Mob,” the Wall Street Journal said a “pro-Trump riot disrupts Congress” after the headline “Mob Storms Capitol.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blared “Insurrection” across the top of the front page with sub- headlines that said, “Rioters respond to Trump’s call — Woman fatally shot —VP whisked to shelter” and a quote from a military veteran, “This is the type of stuff I saw in Iraq.”
President Donald Trump commemorated the fifth anniversary predictably — by denying the truth and creating from thin air his own version of the attack that has not the slightest connection with reality. Then, he tried to rewrite history by putting his fictional concoction on the official White House webpage.
According to Trump’s fabricated version of events on whitehouse.gov, the insurrection was somehow engineered by the intended victims of the insurrection — including former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
And Trump’s blanket pardons and commutations for the nearly 1,600 rioters who had already been convicted, pleaded guilty or were awaiting trial for their crimes on that day are portrayed as “decisive” actions to protect due process and freedom of speech.
Many of those who Trump let go had violently beaten police officers — often with deadly weapons — and some have committed violent crimes since they were released. But still, Trump maintains this ad nauseam attempt at a whitewash of the truth.
George Orwell said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” We guard against that by memorializing the truth. We can do that by erecting statues and monuments, by setting aside a day to remember what we lost or could have lost as a nation or by simply honoring the truth.
During World War II, our parents and grandparents used three words to remember all that was at stake during a dangerous time: “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Now, we have “Remember Jan. 6.”
