Question: On January 6, 2021, more than 2,000 people illegally broke into the US Capitol building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. The attack on the Capitol took place following a rally in which former president Trump and several other politicians spread false claims that the election was fraudulent. Five people died during or immediately after the attack.
Current research suggests that only around 10% of the participants in the insurrection had connections to extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers. According to a Washington Post analysis, “the vast majority of the roughly 650 people federally charged in the riot were not part of far-right groups or premeditated conspiracies to attack the Capitol. Rather, many were an array of everyday Americans that included community leaders, small-business owners, teachers, and yoga instructors.”
Read the following accounts from two people who participated in the insurrection and answer the following question in a well-developed three-paragraph essay.
How do these two stories help you better understand the choices that make events like the attack on the Capitol possible?
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/profiles-two-perpetrators-capitol-insurrection
