Current House Sergeant-at-Arms and former commander of the DC National Guard William Walker told the House January 6th Select Committee in his testimony that the day would’ve seen more “deadly force” used if it had been a horde of Black rioters storming the Capitol, NBC News reports.
“I’m African American. Child of the sixties. I think it would have been a vastly different response if those were African Americans trying to breach the Capitol,” Walker told committee investigators per the transcript released Tuesday. “As a career law enforcement officer, part-time soldier, last 5 years full but, but a law enforcement officer my entire career, the law enforcement response would have been different. There were – I saw enough to where I would have probably been using deadly force. I think it would have been more bloodshed if the composition would have been different.”
Of course that’s the “No shit” conclusion that many reached pretty much as the insurrection was still going on, but it’s still important to hear it from a guy who was on duty when it happened in his old job (but hamstrung by lack of authorization to deploy the troops under his command to assist cops and repel the terrorists) and whose current job is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.