Treatment of Trump mob shows policing double standard, BLM activists say | Morning Newsletter

Good morning. Here are the stories you should know about this morning.

First: My colleagues spoke with Philadelphia activists who explained how the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was more evidence of a double standard in policing.

Then: Pa. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is expected to tell supporters today that he’s considering running for Senate.

And: Restaurant critic Craig LaBan offers some takeout stars that will help you through the winter.

— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Racial justice activists said they watched in horror but weren’t surprised when an armed mob of Trump loyalists stormed inside the Capitol, looted congressional offices, and took selfies with police. “The difference between these cases is that those people were Black and living in a predominantly Black neighborhood, or were white folk who were participating in anti-racist activism,” an organizer in Philadelphia told my colleagues. “This really was a very dramatic and clear example of the white supremacy that’s embedded in policing.”

Reporting by my colleagues Anna Orso, Chris Palmer, Oona Goodin-Smith, and Ellie Rushing illustrates how the insurrection at the Capitol reminded local activists about the uneven police responses they experienced in Philadelphia last year when, on the same day, police stood by as mostly armed white men patrolled Philadelphia neighborhoods as they also fired tear gas at Black Lives Matter protestors trapped along I-676.

Eight of the 10 Pennsylvania Republicans in Congress continued to lead a push to overturn their state’s election results after the violence at the Capitol on Wednesday deterred some of their colleagues from continuing their objections.

While some Republicans have told my colleagues Jonathan Tamari and Andrew Seidman that they hope for a change in approach, others say that Trump’s base is a powerful force that can help them win.

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“Had they been Black, blood would have flowed down those white steps. Authorities would have teargassed dissenters in droves. They would have been shot with rubber bullets before they even made it inside one of the nation’s most important buildings. African Americans would have been rounded up and taken away by the busloads, the way they were last summer during Black Lives Matter protests.” — writes columnist Jenice Armstrong about the difference between how law enforcement treated the majority-white rioters at the Capitol this week and Black Lives Matter protests.

Doubling down on his love of “history, art, buildings, architecture, nature, and gardens,” a retired teacher has bought an 18th-century house, creating a unique Airbnb experience and, one day, he hopes, a free museum.