A protest at the U.S. Capitol, which organizers said was to protect American’s civil rights, ended without incident on Sept. 18, despite verbal clashes between protesters and counter protesters, and four arrests before and after the rally.
Event organizer Matt Braynard, a former Trump aide who now heads the non-profit “Look Ahead America,” said the event was a civil rights protest calling for attention to the disparate treatment of non-violent Jan. 6 protesters when compared to others, such as those protesting Justice Brett Kavanaugh—who also entered congressional buildings on Capitol Hill to exercise their First Amendment right while public servants were there working.
He pushed back on many media outlets’ characterization of the event, which he said described the rally as being “in support of the violent people who attacked and killed police officers on Jan. 6.”
“That is absolutely not what this is about. That has been misrepresented continuously,” he told attendees, while also pushing back against pundits claiming that his event would be a “false flag event.”
The event began with a prayer: “No matter which side of the political spectrum you’re on ... you understand and know that God is in our presence, and that we understand and feel his presence in our lives, and accept His peace and His goodness and His love in our lives.” This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and singing of the national anthem.
Braynard didn’t mince words at the rally. He told the audience that while many Americans were upset on Jan. 6, the reaction at the Capitol “was stupid and it was wrong.”
“We condemn political violence in all of its forms. We condemn the political violence that happened on Jan. 6,” he said.
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) estimated that approximately 400 to 450 people had gathered inside the police perimeter for the rally. Earlier in the week, a Department of Homeland Security official said around 700 were expected to attend.
Temporary fencing was re-erected around the Capitol Building ahead of the protest, similar to what was erected after Jan. 6. Early on Sept. 18, roads were closed by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), USCP officers were deployed in full riot gear, and the National Guard was put on standby.
Two Republican House candidates did speak at the event despite pressure from political leadership not to participate, Braynard said.
“They are not our enemies. Our enemies are those that will deny people of their Constitutional rights and then take a narrative that labels all of us as terrorists or insurrectionists for just questioning things,” he said.
“It’s our God-given right and duty as Americans to actually question things, to question their narrative,” he added, warning that America is on its way to becoming a “banana republic.”
“That happens overseas all the time,” Kent warned. “Unfortunately, we conducted operations like that when I was in Iraq serving overseas, and it did nothing but further radicalize people. It is very dangerous … This is a slippery slope and we are on it right now.”
“Our fellow Americans, regardless of what walk of life they’re from, what political party they’re from, have the God-given right to due process. That’s in our Constitution. Those rights were given by God, not by man. Man cannot take them away,” he said.
“I don’t want to pretend to know who’s innocent and who’s guilty,” he said of Jan. 6. “But I’ll tell you what I do see: I see people who are being held for non-violent crimes and they deserve their day in court … they deserve to have their Sixth and Eighth Amendments upheld. Otherwise, they are political prisoners and they are being using to suppress law-abiding American citizens from expressing their First Amendment rights.”
Rally co-host Cara Castronuova, former Golden Glove boxer-turned-investigative reporter for Newsmax, expressed her disappointment at Congress’s response to the event.
“I’m sick and tired of the narrative that the people that support these prisoners and that the people who support justice in America are white supremacists,” she said, noting that she is a feminist of Chinese and Italian heritage who has voted Obama, Clinton, and Trump. “It’s a means to distract and divide us. I’m asking the mainstream media to please stop distracting and dividing the American people. We have more in common than different. According to you, we should be enemies.”
Two officers and four protesters died during and following the Capitol breach. USCP officer Brian Sicknick died from natural causes on Jan. 7, and officer Howie Liebengood died of suicide on Jan. 9. Two older male protesters, Kevin Greeson and Benjamin Phillips, died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease on Capitol grounds, while two female protesters, Ashley Babbitt and Roseanne Boyland, died at the Capitol building in the chaos of the breach.
‘This Is What Terrifies Them’
Braynard concluded the rally by saying that their demands were not about Trump, Biden, or the election, but justice and equal treatment under the law, no matter a person’s political views.According to The Associated Press, around 63 Jan. 6 defendants are being detained in federal custody awaiting trial or sentencing hearings.
Braynard also urged his fellow Americans to embrace peaceful protests going forward to “help us make this a better country.”
“This is a dirty secret, OK? When you are upset about a political problem, you’re angry, [the political leadership] actually want you to do what happened on Jan. 6. They want violence from us, they want us to cross the line.
“It’s easier to deal with the political opposition when it’s violent,” he explained. “But what’s the thing that we’ve learnt from people like Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, or the civil rights movement in this country? I’ll tell you what terrifies them: this is what terrifies them—a peaceful assembly of the America First right.
“We’re operating within the law, we respect the Constitution, we love the First Amendment, we love our police officers who had a very difficult job. When we show up at school board meetings and use our First Amendment rights, when we educate our legislators, when we come to Washington and demand justice, peacefully, orderly, this is what terrifies them. This is why they didn’t want you to come,” Braynard said.
