Sergeant-at-Arms William J. Walker, former head of the National Guard in Washington, DC, revealed on January 6, 2021 that he believed the response to the deadly riot would be “very different” if those involved were black. people.
Walker’s comments stem from testimony he gave to the grand jury in April.
“I’m African-American. Child of the sixties. I think it would have been a very different response if these were African-Americans trying to get into the Capitol,” Walker said, according to the transcript. career, part-time trooper, it took five years to go full-time, but as a law enforcement officer, my entire career, the response from law enforcement would have been different.”
Walker, who is Black, also told the committee he was “looking at someone who would have been pulled over by the police for driving a high-value government vehicle. No other reasons.
“I think it would have been a different response,” Walker said.
“I had to talk to my five children and prepare to talk to my niece. I don’t know if you know what I mean when I talk about what to do to survive an encounter with the police.”
The committee — which released its final report last week — determined that Pentagon officials did not intentionally delay sending the National Guard to the Capitol, but “mixed messages” caused a delayed response, according to The Hill.
The report found that former President Donald Trump “had both the authority and responsibility to direct the deployment” of the National Guard to Washington, but “never ordered their deployment” or requested assistance from federal law enforcement agencies.
The report describes: “Although the evidence identifies possible miscommunication between members of civilian leadership in the Department of Defense affecting the timing of deployment, the Committee found no evidence that the Department of Defense intentionally delayed the deployment of the National Guard.” .
Shawn Thew via Associated Press
Walker said in his testimony that compared to the protests over the death of George Floyd in 2020, officials, including the secretary of the Army and the secretary of defense, did not call him as riots swept the Capitol on January 6, compared to the constant. calls he received the previous summer.
“I think the response would have been different, a much tougher response, I think there would have been a lot more bloodshed,” he said. “You know, as a law enforcement officer, there were – I’ve seen enough that I probably would have used deadly force.”
Then-President-elect Joe Biden also shared similar thoughts with Walker during a speech the day after the attack.
“Nobody can tell me that if there had been a Black Lives Matter group protesting yesterday … they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the thugs who stormed the Capitol,” Biden said.
“We all know that’s true. And it is unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable. The American people have seen this and I hope it has made them aware of what we need to do.
Walker, a retired U.S. Army major general, noted that “the information was there” to know January 6 would be “a big deal.”
“You don’t need intelligence. I mean, everybody knew that people were invited to come there by the president. November was pretrial, December was training and January 6 was execution,” Walker said.
“I personally, William Joseph Walker, not General Walker, thought it was very different. The National Guard is not called out in December. The National Guard is not called out in November. And I saw on TV the difference in the people who come to the Capitol in November. And if you watch the movie and the same groups come back in December, you better prepare. You better be prepared.”
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