Jan. 6, 2021 will become a historic date for United States history. On this date, over 2000 people stormed the capitol with intentions of overturning President Trump’s 2020 presidential loss. These rioters breached the Capitol, destroyed government property, and their actions led to the death of five people. Many Americans across the United States voiced their opinions on these riots.

Mike Krzyzewski, Basketball coach at Duke University, has never veered away from offering his perspective on world events, independent from his career as coach.  The insurrection at the Capitol was no exception as Coach K. shared it attacked America at its very core in the Winston-Salem Journal. He said, “The symbol for our democracy is that Capitol,” and he thinks the rioters actively disrespected this symbol. He also believes that every political figure who was in support of this insurrection should be rebuked. The fundamental principles of this nation include the president being elected by the people; therefore, any form of support for a rebellion against the choice of the people is against the very fabric of our country.

     It would be naive to believe that this event only affected the U.S.; it impacted the entire world. The U.S. was created with the intention of being a model nation with a strong democracy, which the entire world could look up to. Furthermore, many countries–such as France, Venezuela, Switzerland and many more–have modeled their governments and their way of handling domestic affairs based off of the United States. This means that when our country fails as a democracy, demonstrated by this riot, it is expected that the world will criticize our handling of these affairs because all eyes are looking towards the United States. One of the many critics on the events that transpired was Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who described the riots as “disgusting scenes.” Johnson’s opinion was backed by a plethora of other politicians, some even described the riots as “a direct attack on democracy.”

    Many world leaders agree that an attack against the Capitol because the rioters’ candidate did not win was an act against democracy. What happened on Jan. 6 was not a Democrat or Republican issue; rather, it was an American one. It is vital that people do not take this opportunity to further attack and divide one another; rather, people should take this time to reflect on the issues which are currently plaguing this country–such as racial injustice and COVID-19–and work together to help resolve them and maintain our democracy.