White riot?

What is the point of racializing the January 6 insurrection?

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Hey folks. End of a week that felt like it lasted forever. First, I want to flag a new job opportunity leading legislative affairs on criminal justice issues at the Niskanen Center. It’s a great opportunity for the right person to move the ball forward on this issue in a constructive way.

Now onto the thick of things.

In the wake of the failed January 6 insurrection, a lot of articles got written situating the event in the context of the history of racial violence in the United States. Of the articles in that genre, I think my favorites were by Hakeem Jefferson in 538 and Omar Wasow in The Washington Post; Isaac Chotiner’s interview with Eric Foner is also very much worth your time.

This is important history to understand, both on its own terms and as a counterweight to the naive surprise expressed in some segments of the media in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

American political culture has a tendency to be somewhat willfully blind about the le…