NORTHAMPTON — A rally outside City Hall on Thursday marked the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and pushed for measures to counteract what many demonstrators said is the ongoing erosion of the American democratic process.
The noontime rally organized by Indivisible Northampton was one of about 300 planned nationwide to mobilize for passage of voting rights bills in Congress, as well as statehood for Washington, D.C.
Lawrence Pareles, one of the organizers, asked the roughly 100 rallygoers to call members of Congress and urge them to support the Freedom to Vote Act, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and D.C. statehood.
“People are worried about the possible subversion of future elections,” Pareles said. “The best way to prevent that is to get these laws passed. It’s hard to say, but we really feel democracy is in some danger.”
Co-organizer Beth Lev said the bills would “go far” in making elections “more transparent and fair and also protecting our rights to vote.” Since the insurrection, she said, there have been more efforts to “overthrow democracy,” but they are taking the form of laws instead of violence.
On Jan. 6, 2021, hundreds of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump breached the Capitol in Washington in a failed effort to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, causing more than $1.5 million in damage during a prolonged attack that led to four deaths in the crowd and was tied to the suicides of four Capitol police officers over the following months.
Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes the day after the insurrection, and the Washington medical examiner found “all that transpired [on Jan. 6] played a role in his condition.” An unknown person placed pipe bombs outside the Republican National Headquarters and the Democratic National Convention headquarters the night before the insurrection; police found them before they detonated, but the diversion took officers away from the Capitol violence.
During Thursday’s rally, Apple Ahern of Leverett held a sign that read “Hold Them Accountable.” When asked to identify “them,” Ahern said, “The whole kebab. We’re not seeing anything. We’re seeing slaps on the wrists, but that’s pretty much all they’re doing.”
Time magazine reported Thursday that more than 725 people have been arrested for their roles in the insurrection; 31 have received jail time to date, the magazine reported, and the median length of their jail terms is 45 days. Longer terms were given to rioters who engaged in violence and threats.
“To think that, for lack of a better word, a mafia took over to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else, and everything else,” Ahern said. “It’s a very emotional topic.”
Susan Seigel of Amherst attended the rally with M.P. Chevrette of South Hadley; both are members of the Massachusetts chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America.
“It’s about the truth, and keeping our democracy, holding onto the cornerstone of democracy, which is voting,” Seigel said. “We are going to try to stop this kind of behavior. We believe in First Amendment rights. We believe in gathering like this and protesting, but not riots and not insurrections.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered speeches on Thursday to mark the anniversary. Biden said those who engaged in the insurrection, and those who instigated it held “a dagger at the throat of America” because former president Donald Trump “can’t accept he lost” his 2020 reelection bid. Harris said “the American spirit is being tested” and that Congress needs to pass voting rights legislation in response.
Seigel praised Biden and Harris for “putting on the boxing gloves” and countering the misinformation spun by some Republicans who try to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021. She said voters should not be intimidated into staying home on Election Day and they should be confident that their vote is secure.
“This country is in danger,” Chevrette said. “This country gave democracy to the world and now we’re about to lose it.”
He said he is concerned about gerrymandering in congressional districts, “which will send more Republicans to the House,” as well as possible state-level efforts to decertify the results of the upcoming midterm elections and the presidential election in 2024.
“The big issue is nullification, that state legislatures and the governor can simply say, ‘These results are invalid,’ for whatever reason … and change the result in the Electoral College,” he said.
Ruth Folchman of Northampton said she is “so anxious about what’s happening in our country right now.”
Citing Kathleen Belew, a University of Chicago historian quoted in a Dec. 6 article in The Atlantic, Folchman said that the insurrectionists were most likely to come from a county where the white population is in decline.
“I was in bed reading that, and I just went, ‘Are you … kidding me?’” Folchman said. “This is racist. That’s it. … For me, that elevated the anti-racism work that, right now, is so fundamental to our democracy.”
State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, spoke briefly to the crowd, highlighting his past work negotiating on behalf of the United Nations in Iraq, Syria and Israel. He said that if something like the Capitol insurrection and its political fallout took place in those countries, “We would be raising red flags.”
“Voter suppression, changing the rules, making sure that people of color are not able to vote, and on and on,” Hinds said. “It’s a scary moment right now in America, and it takes all of us standing up and fighting and making sure we pass laws at the federal level.”
Hinds encouraged attendees to support the permanent extension of temporary voting measures that went into effect in Massachusetts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including vote-by-mail, which expired last month.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.