Megan Rapinoe on the Capitol Hill siege: ‘A murderous moment that shows the true colours of America’
US soccer star Megan Rapinoe has called the Capitol Hill attack a 'murderous moment' and lamented that it showed the 'true colours' of America.
Commenting on the disgraceful scenes from Washington last week, Rapinoe commented 'this was about white supremacy and holding up white supremacy'.
She said: “Hopefully [it’s] the final straw for so many people to really understand the reason that we’re here is because we never have actually had a reckoning with what our country really is.
"This is America. Make no mistake about it. I think we showed very much our true colours. This is not the first time we’ve seen a murderous mob like that. Unleashing a white supremacy mob is nothing new to America as people of colour, black and brown, know very well.
“It’s just striking how horrible it was, and just how insane it was. From the climate in the country being such that we have our political leaders, our chief political leader, inciting an actual real-life murderous and deadly insurrection against his own government, against his own people, against his own party.”
Five people died as a result of the siege and the FBI have opened 160 cases in their investigation of the incident. Rapinoe wants to see justice happen.
“All the calls for unity and moving forward obviously cannot come without justice. If we do not punish this and investigate this to the fullest extent, it only encourages more of this to happen. We should not underestimate what could have happened.
"I think we are very lucky that that officer led that mob away from the Senate. We saw people with weapons and people with zip ties and they put a gallows up outside the Capitol building where they were chanting to hang the vice-president of the United States.
“So anybody thinking, ‘Oh well, they really wouldn’t have done that much and I think we should give them sort of a pass’. Maybe we haven’t seen this in our lifetimes, but I think that we should make no mistake about what the intent was. It was a murderous moment. Five people are dead and we can’t bring them back."
Rapinoe, who has returned to the US squad for the first time since March, also touched upon a photo that emerged of a Donald Trump supporter wearing a USWNT shirt.
She responded: “I feel like I can probably speak on behalf of a lot of my team-mates. That is not the kind of fan that we will welcome. The US crest is not to be confused with anything that has to do with white supremacy, anything that has to do with the Trump administration, anything that has to do with that divisive culture that we saw on the Capitol.
“We want to create, and continue to create, a place that is inclusive and safe and diverse for our fans and for our players to play in front of and for people to watch on TV and for the media to cover. So don’t bring that bull**** here.”
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