U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, reflected on her experiences during the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, at a U.S. House hearing convened Tuesday.
The unofficial hearing entitled “After January 6th: Setting the Record Straight on the Capitol Insurrection,” was organized by U.S. House Minority Leader Representative Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, and former U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, former chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack.
The event, held in a room in the U.S. Capitol’s basement, featured multiple panels, with members including former and current U.S. representatives alongside a Capitol Police officer present at the Capitol building on January 6, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan.
Other panelists included a former federal prosecutor, who left the Department of Justice after U.S. President Donald Trump offered pardons to all individuals charged for taking part in the attack, the executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and Pamela Hemphill, a former Trump supporter who served 60 days in prison for taking part in the attack on the Capitol, denying a presidential pardon.
Sewell took part in the third panel of the day, alongside U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi, D-California; U.S. Representative Robin Kelly, D-Illinois; and U.S. Representative Jason Crow, D-Colorado.
The representative, who described the events of five years ago as “a memory that will be seared into my brain forever,” called for greater recognition of the attack from congressional and Trump administration Republicans.
“This is the first time that I’ve been able to publicly speak about it, because frankly, I could not believe that in our place of work, in the people’s house, we were threatened that way,” Sewell said during the hearing. “January 6 was a dark day in our nation’s history, and I hope that we can all work together to ensure that such a heinous attack never, ever, ever happens again.”
During her remarks, Sewell discussed being one of the U.S. representatives trapped in the Capitol as rioters began storming the House gallery.
“As I sat huddled with my colleagues, I remember trembling and softly weeping, not just for our safety, but for the devastating threat to our democracy. Many of us frantically dialed our loved ones, unsure of what the next hours would bring,” the congresswoman said.
“What we saw on January 6 was an attempted coup. It was an effort to subvert the will of the American people and overturn the results of a free and fair election. It was incumbent upon all of us to condemn the violence that we witnessed and those who waged it,” Sewell added.
Sewell went on to express disapproval of Trump’s pardon of individuals involved in the attack on the Capitol, alongside the refusal of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to put in place a plaque honoring Capitol Police and D.C. Metro Police who responded to the attack.
A resolution to place the memorial plaque in the western front of the U.S. Capitol was passed by Congress in 2022 and originally scheduled to be installed in 2023.
Capitol Architect Thomas Austin confirmed last year that the plaque has been completed. Johnson, however, told the Associated Press ahead of the 5th anniversary of the attacks that the statute authorizing the plaque was “not implementable.”
Law enforcement officers present on January 6 filed a lawsuit last summer over the delayed installation, which the Department of Justice is currently seeking to dismiss.
Former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., was the only Republican panelist to take part in the day’s discussions.
“They say that if you don’t know your history, you are bound to repeat your history,” Sewell said. “As a member of Congress who represents Alabama’s civil rights district, I often tell my constituents, ‘If we don’t tell our stories, others will tell our stories, and they may not get it right.’”
The representative likened the violence at the Capitol to violence seen in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement.
“There are moments throughout history that have tested us as a nation. January 6 was one of them, as was Bloody Sunday in my hometown of Selma, Alabama and the bombing of the four little girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and so many other defining moments along the way,” Sewell said.
“Those moments can either make us stronger as a nation, or they can tear us apart. We can use them as an opportunity to heal or to move forward. Or, we can sweep them under the rug for the sake of political convenience,” she added. “It’s maddening that so many of my colleagues across the aisle continue to choose the latter.”
