A Former U.S. Senate Page Reflects on Security, Race, Class, and the Capitol Riots
In the summer of 2019, I had the privilege of working as a U.S. Senate page. We had to be compliant with many layers of security protocol. This included forfeiting access to our cellphones and the internet when we entered the campus. Every morning, my colleagues and I would walk into the Hart Senate Office Building past armed Capitol police officers and through a set of metal detectors and then enter a secure subway system reserved for congresspeople and staff. Only then could we walk through a final security screening inside the Capitol. Mind you, this is the protocol set for 16- and 17-year-olds under the Senate’s payroll.
My familiarity with the Capitol paired with the recent imagery of insurrectionists in these same hallways, by the same police force, and on the same Senate floor offers a surreal and chilling juxtaposition. It raises several questions about the way we carve out two distinct Americas: one in which Black and Brown people are often vilified for doing nothing and still must endure the violence of policing in their everyday lives and another in which White rioters are able to breach the Capitol and are comfortable enough to take selfies with Capitol police officers.
In my reflection, I am reminded of a particular essay titled “White Poverty: The Poverty of…
