Double Standard?: Dane County NAACP president calls US Capitol riots “white privilege”

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -There’s mounting criticism about the policing and preparation on Capitol Hill, surrounding the law enforcement response in comparison to Black Lives Matter protests in the past.

Black community leaders in Wisconsin say the law enforcement response is different based on who is protesting.

“This is a system that is more favorable to one race, and disfavorable to minorities,” Tory Lowe, Milwaukee Social Activist, 101.7 FM radio host said.

Capitol police in riot gear for black lives matter protests in June and the halls of Congress breached by Trump supporters in January.

Lowe calls the differences in treatment by law enforcement a double standard.

“We’re in the streets asking for liberty, justice. We want to be treated equal,” Lowe said.

He said equality was absent in the police response on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

“If it was a group of black people, they would have been calling it a bloody Wednesday because we would have gotten mowed down,” Lowe said.

Greg Jones, NAACP President of Dane County, said he watched the chaos at the Capitol unfold on TV in awe.

“White privilege, in my opinion, says that you are born to access the power and resources in this country. Yesterday’s activity, in my mind, was an exercise of white privilege,” Jones said.

UW-Madison emeritus sociology professor Pam Oliver agreed.

“White people can get away with more stuff than black people and that happens a lot. There’s a lot, a lot, a lot of that. That white people are given a pass,” Oliver said.

Oliver also studies the policing of protests.

She said Trump supporters attempting to disrupt democracy signaled a problem that must be addressed in our country.

“What was happening on the Capitol yesterday was also structural white supremacy,” Oliver said

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