The Rape of Lady Democracy

Trigger warning: references sexual assault
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On the evening of January 6, 2021, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi referred to the US Capitol building as the “temple of democracy.” As a Christian, I’ve been taught that my body is a temple.

Part of what I am feeling the day after the assault on our democracy is a deep sense of violation. To see white men scaling the walls of the US Capitol building, climbing on top of, shattering the glass membrane, pushing through, and inserting themselves into democracy’s most sacred of places is akin to another kind of deepest violation.

The white men (with white women watching and cheering them on) mounted our sacred temple of democracy and raped the American people in broad daylight surrounded by gloating, lustful, testosterone fueled angry mobs. It was toxic white masculinity at its most deadly for all the world to see.

Now we awake the morning after. Like survivors of sexual assault, we wonder what did we do to deserve this kind of treatment? Why weren’t we protected and safe? And the pain throbs deep within.

We could suppress these feelings, clean ourselves up, and move on, even pretend it didn’t happen. Maybe like the rape kits, evidence will be collected, but then just put in a box in a closet in a basement and forgotten.

We must not forget. We must hold white rapists of democracy accountable. Our children must learn that this is not the way we treat our temples, not our bodies, not our democracy.

We must confront this evil impulse born from the bloodlust of patriarchal white supremacy. The thing is, nothing that is truly sacred can ever be destroyed. The sacred is eternal.

May God bless America and my God show mercy to Lady Democracy.