Senator Ronald L. Rice (D-28) released the following statement regarding the irreverent disruption that erupted at our nation’s Capitol today:

“Although I’ve lived through many a despicable period and endured the past twelve months as some of the most difficult of my life, today’s events have made this Wednesday, January 6, 2021, my most heartbreaking day as an American.

“Today, people of good will in New Jersey and every state have been brought to their knees in anguish over the incomprehensible torrent of disrespect, ignorance, arrogance and hostility that has trashed not only our most sacred process of peaceful transfer of power but the very building that serves as its temple.

“I am appalled and demoralized.  And yet somehow, I am not surprised.

“This deplorable revolt rooted in fiction, delusion and cosplay fantasy, has almost nothing at all to do with political party affiliation, red/blue, liberal/conservative or even election results.  It has to do with our complete breakdown in national communication, our inability to listen to each other anymore and our cowardice.  Fewer and fewer of us have the clarity and commitment to stand up for honesty, compassion and justice.  Many elected officials and their constituents are no longer capable of behaving with the decency most of us were taught in kindergarten chairs or on our grandmother’s laps.

“When we keep silent and swim with a river of lies, or fail to go against the current for fear of sticking out, we kill America.  When we choose to fawn over flawed leaders and rubber-stamp harmful legislation because it’s the path of least resistance, we kill America.  This gutless compliance and acquiescence eventually culminates in the inevitably debauchery and societal convulsion we witnessed today.

“On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, America’s mindless, blind reactivity resulted in the death of a woman shot in the chest inside our nation’s Capitol building. 

“I believe her cause of death was more than the bullet fired into her chest.  She died from the crushing failure of communication among countrymen and women.  She died from the delinquency of timid, fearful legislators standing mute to lies and liars.  She died from the despair promulgated by people who seek to divide us and strip us of dignity and hope.

“She was also killed by an inexplicable failure of a so-called “law and order” president who mobilized every manner of military force to squelch peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters – and yet today somehow managed to tie the hands of security forces necessary to repel the expected assault of armed extremists that he all but begged to come to Washington to get “wild.”

“For many reasons, this has been one of America’s darkest days.  But comparing photos of the capitol’s robust security force unleashed at last June’s BLM demonstration with the ineffective presence that abetted today’s chaos reveals a sad and stubborn reality found in every state, including ours:  Black lives often seem to matter only when you can somehow take advantage of them.

“We must do better, beginning right now.  America needs to reward truthfulness, honor compassion, elevate justice and celebrate diversity.”