Police response to pro-Trump protesters was different to Black Lives Matter. I know why

Like many in Australia, I awoke Thursday to an America in crisis.

From Sydney, I pounced on the images as they filed in — MAGA-clad rioters scaling the walls of the Capitol, or taking selfies on the floor of the Senate, or laidback in the office of the Speaker of the House.

In those initial moments, they left me, above all else, confused. Where were the wounded? The fallen?

I’ve lived in DC and I’ve seen the forces that patrol our halls of government. Surely, I assumed, they didn’t give way willingly.

In the midst of the attack on the Capitol, CNN commentator Van Jones was one of many to echo a quickly growing call: “Imagine if #BlackLivesMatter were the ones who were storming the Capitol building”.

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It wasn’t long ago that BLM…