Summary
This week marks one year since the insurrection at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6. William Brangham reports from one part of the country that produced an outsized number of people charged in the capitol riots, and heard from others in that community who are still trying to understand the forces that propelled their neighbors to the siege.
Five Facts
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Where
did reporter William Brangham travel to report this story, and why?
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Who
is interviewed in this piece, and what are their connections to those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?
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Why
did so many members of the Frisco community join in on Jan. 6, according to this piece?
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How
has Frisco changed as a community in the past 10 years, according to this piece?
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What
has been the role of misinformation in political movements in Frisco, according to those interviewed?
Focus Questions
What do you think is the best way to address the sort of disinformation described in this piece that helped propel the attack on the Capitol?
Media literacy:
Why do you think the producers decided to profile a single community in Texas to try and understand the impulses that led to an attack on the Capitol?
For More
-
See
this lesson
for look at historical context of the January 6 Capitol attack.
-
See
this article
to understand disagreement among Americans about what to call the attack.
FILE PHOTO: An explosion caused by a police munition is seen while supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. Reuters photographer Leah Millis: "Thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a failed attempt to overturn the recent election and prevent Joe Biden, a Democrat, from becoming the next president. It was the worst attack on the seat of the U.S. government since the War of 1812. I arrived at the west side of the U.S. Capitol before the Trump supporters overwhelmed police lines, and I documented the chaos that ensued for the next seven hours. At one point I heard the crowd chanting "heave-ho" and thought they must be breaking in through the doors. I didn't want to risk getting crushed or injured by the massive crowd, which was hostile toward members of the media and had already assaulted several of my colleagues that day. I chose to risk climbing some scaffolding that had been erected for the upcoming inauguration to give me a better view. The Capitol had already been breached via different entrances, but the fight for this entrance went on for hours. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the mob of Trump supporters and in the process multiple officers were severely injured. Four people would die that day and a police officer attacked by protesters died the next day. Four officers later took their own lives. Eventually, law enforcement was able to successfully push the crowd back. At 5:04 p.m. to disperse the remaining protesters, they used a flash-bang grenade, which released a blinding light that illuminated the U.S. Capitol building. To me, the explosion of the grenade captured the violence and shock of the day: American citizens attacking and breaching their own country's Capitol building. The haunting sight of the American flag flying above the entire scene, casting a
FILE PHOTO: An explosion caused by a police munition is seen while supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021.
