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DEMOCRACY | POLITICS

Do You Remember Where You Were on Jan 6, 2021?

Thousands of miles away, apathy kept me company

Lola Rosario
5 min readFeb 12, 2025

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police in riot gear, Jan 6, the White House, this is not democracy
Credit: Colin Lloyd via Unsplash

One of the darkest moments in American history [was] when white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol in hopes of overthrowing the government.
~ Shaniqua McClendon, Political strategist at Crooked Media*

Ready for the delicious freshly prepared breakfast the young chef at Mazzola Safari House was about to start, I excited left my room and walked into the spacious living area.

A scene of complete commotion emanated from the big flat screen television.

Recognizing the reporter’s American accent, I felt my body tense — eager to continue enjoying all the wonder of my too-short three-week Tanzanian trip, the last thing I wanted was for it to be interrupted by the drama unfolding back in the country I had left behind.

I remember shaking my head and hearing someone comment, “there’s big troubles happening in the U.S.”

Here I was, nearly 8,000 miles away from the southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina (where I lived at the time) — extremely excited and ready to embark on a five-day community game drive to begin at Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem — there was no way I’d allow political news from colonizer…

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Lola Rosario
Lola Rosario

Written by Lola Rosario

Spoken Word Poet 🇵🇷 Living Boldly Unapologetic https://lolaslines.com

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