Black Capitol Police Officer Receives Racist Hate Mail After Testifying At Hearing
U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who was on duty during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, bravely spoke out during the House select committee hearing about the racist abuse he suffered during the attack. He has now been inundated with racist messages online.
According to WTTG, Dunn said since revealing how he was called the n-word during the insurrection, he has received racist messages on Facebook, Twitter and offensive images of him were posted on the online platform Telegram.
While the FBI is investigating death threats to Mike Fanone, another officer who was present during the riot and testified at the hearing, Dunn said the hate messages he’s received haven’t threatened his life. “Not on that level. A bunch of hate mail. Whatever," he says.
According to CBS News, at the July 27 hearing, Dunn explained as the rioters were screaming that no one voted for President Joe Biden, he shared that he did. He recalls, “One woman in a pink ‘MAGA’ shirt yelled, ‘You hear that, guys, this n****r voted for Joe Biden!” Then, he says, the crowd of around 20 people started screaming, “Boo! Fucking n***er!”
He continued, “No one had ever — ever ― called me a ‘n***er’ while wearing the uniform of a Capitol Police officer. In the days following the attempted insurrection, other Black officers shared with me their own stories of racial abuse on Jan. 6. One officer told me he had never, in his entire 40 years of life, been called a ‘n***er’ to his face, and that streak ended on January 6. Yet another Black officer later told Dunn he had been confronted by insurrectionists inside the Capitol, who told him to ‘Put your gun down and we’ll show you what kind of n—er you really are!’”
Watch his testimony below from CBS News:
The Jan. 6 insurrection is widely regarded as an act of domestic terrorism. While Congress was assembled to certify the results of the 2020 election, pro-Trump rioters, who had organized a protest for that day at the invitation of the president, overwhelmed the police barracades and ransacked lawmakers offices. More than 500 people have been arrested for taking part in the melee.
