Wake up memories or move on? A year after the attack on Congress by supporters of Donald Trump, the elected officials of the temple of American democracy are struggling to heal the wounds of “January 6”.
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When he appears in the Senate gallery a few days before the anniversary of the assault on Capitol Hill, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has a serious tone. “January 6, 2021 will forever remain this indelible stain in the history of our American democracy.”
Straight in his dark suit, he insists: “They tried to shake our democracy. Thank goodness they failed ”.
“They” is that group of demonstrators in “TRUMP” caps and flags who, almost a year ago to the day, stood in their place in the Senate chamber, causing unnamed chaos. This famous “protester with the buffalo horns” brandishing a megaphone, this man clinging with the force of an arm to a wall on which is engraved in Latin one of the mottos of the Congress.
In the room where Chuck Schumer is speaking on Tuesday, memories of January 6, 2021 are everywhere.
Memory, a whole story
A few steps away, a television set which will be used Thursday to animate the commemorations of this anniversary is being installed. President Joe Biden must speak there, a series of elected officials share their pain.
A conversation between historians is also planned, with the aim of “establishing and preserving the story” of January 6. Because even within the institution attacked, the reading of events is the subject of heated debates.
In recent months, elected officials very close to Donald Trump have indeed tried to push a narrative quite different from that supported by the Democrats. January 6 is just a demonstration that has gone wrong, those arrested after the assault on “political prisoners”, they plead.
With less than a year of crucial legislative elections, other of their colleagues are also calling – half-heartedly – to move on.
“We have citizens at home for whom we must work,” pleads Republican Joni Ernst to AFP. “This is where our attention should turn.”
Many of his colleagues have decided to snub Thursday’s commemorations.
“Much suffering”
On social networks, through communiques, and even in the corridors of this venerable institution, these multiple stories provoke violent invective. The wounds of January 6 are still alive.
“I think there is still a lot of suffering,” Democrat Cory Booker told AFP. But, he tempers, “many positive things have emerged since” including the security system of the Capitol, greatly improved.
The imposing wooden planks affixed for many months to some windows have been removed. A broken window, which until recently reminded everyone of the violence of that January day, has finally been repaired.
The US Congress is safe, the Capitol Police chief assured at a rare press conference on Tuesday.
In the snow at the beginning of January, the dome of the Capitol shyly begins to shine again.