Wednesday afternoon, President-elect Joe Biden spoke to calm the nation. Two points: 1) this was a job the lame duck should have performed, so I hope Joe is on the clock; 2) he said the mob takeover of The Capitol was not America.

The reason I disagree with the President-elect on the second point is that if we ignore history, we shall repeat that history. Hatred and violence were part of the founding of the USA. 1789-1865: Slavery is not a benevolent system.

Running in parallel with slavery: indigenous people were subject to genocide and women were oppressed. The 13th Amendment ended slavery de jure. Jim Crow picked up from there. We still killed indigenous peoples and oppressed women.

In the early 1920s the Governor of Indiana and the Mayor of Indianapolis owed their offices, in large part, to the KKK. D.C. Stephenson, the Grand Dickhead of the KKK, was convicted of homicide in the death of Madge Oberholzer, a clerical worker in the Statehouse.

The KKK went underground - so to speak. Malcolm X said that violence is as American as cherry pie. The hatred that was on display at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, did not just happen, and will not go away, over night.

People who stormed The Capitol should be prosecuted for any crimes individuals committed. The current occupant of The Oval Office should be removed from that place before he hits a button. His enablers should be turned out of office.

If we ignore the contradictory nature of this nation’s existence - land of the free with a history of slavery, genocide, oppression and with more people in prison than any other country - we shall face the same events. Violence sucks. Explain it to the victims of that violence of two centuries.