- Kamala Harris compared three major dates in US history during a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot.
- Harris said Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and the January 6 insurrection "echo throughout history."
- The vice president emphasized both the "fragility and strength" of democracy.
On the one-year anniversary of the attack, Vice President Kamala Harris underscored the severity of the January 6 insurrection by comparing it to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
"Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault," Harris said. "Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory: December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001, and January 6th, 2021."
—MRCTV (@mrctv) January 6, 2022
Harris recalled her own experience on that day, describing how her staff was "converting filing cabinets into barricades" after she and other lawmakers were evacuated from the Senate and House chambers.
She went on to emphasize how the "fragility and strength" of democracy were represented in tandem on the day of the Capitol siege.
"The fragility of our democracy is this: if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand," Harris said. "It will falter, and it will fail."
Despite "the violent assault" that interrupted Congress certifying the presidential election, Harris said the strength of American democracy was put on display later that night.
"Yet, the resolve I saw in our elected leaders when I returned to the Senate chamber that night — their resolve not to yield, but to certify the election, their loyalty, not to party or person, but to the Constitution of the United States — that reflects its strength," she said.
Harris also commended "the heroism of the Capitol Police" and other first responders "who answered the call that day, including those who later succumbed to wounds both visible and invisible."
"Our thoughts are with all of the families who have lost a loved one," Harris added.
Harris closed with the question of whether January 6 will be remembered as "a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest, greatest democracy in the world, or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come."