meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Our Body Politic

1. Jan 6th: An American Story - Legal Eagles

Our Body Politic

Diaspora Farms, LLC

News Commentary, Documentary, Society & Culture, Government, News

4.8658 Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

PART 1: By now, the story of what happened on January 6 2021 is seared into the public psyche. But there is still an untold story. Many of the investigators and team leads on the January 6th Committee were people of color. In this podcast, we bring you the story of their leadership, and why their mix of lived experience as descendents of enslaved people; children of immigrants; or immigrants themselves deeply shaped the committee’s quest to protect and uphold a multiracial pluralistic democracy. The story they tell about the inner workings of the committee also reveal deep rifts over the role of race and Christian Nationalism in the insurrection, and how much of that inquiry should be told while proving former President Trump’s role in the insurrection. As America winds up with endless court cases over the former President and his alleged co-conspirators, it is also, arguably winding up for an increase in domestic violent extremism. In “January 6th: An American Story,” we show – through the investigators of color and lawmakers helping lead the committee – that January 6th is not over, and the ways we continue to make sense of its reverberations could save – or imperil – us all. The story of January 6 is an American Story. It just might be different from the one you thought you knew. In this episode, we meet the Black, South Asian and Latino investigators on the January 6th committee who share their personal stories – whether it be growing up in Harlem in the 1970s and as an Afro Latino in Miami or straddling American and Indian cultures. We learn why these legal eagles were handpicked to serve on the January 6 committee and why they choose to defend a nation that doesn’t always defend them.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

So just tell me what comes to mind.

0:06.6

America.

0:08.0

Pluralism, diversity, opportunity.

0:12.2

America.

0:13.5

It's the greatest country, I will say that, and it could be even greater.

0:20.0

America.

0:22.2

Peril. America. Peril.

0:25.1

These voices are the voices from investigators of the January 6th Committee.

0:30.5

They are all people of color.

0:33.4

Some are immigrants or children of immigrants.

0:36.6

Others are descendants of enslaved people.

0:40.0

More than a quarter of the some 40 investigators on the January 6th committee were black, South Asian, or Latino.

0:47.3

So were three of the five leaders of the specialized investigative teams.

0:52.6

For the first time, they talked to us.

0:59.0

We went into this documentary with a hypothesis

1:03.0

that the unusually robust representation of people of color

1:07.0

was not an accident, nor was it just for show. In a nation where race has always been tied to democracy and both its aspirations and discontents,

1:17.6

we theorized that the lived experience of legal investigators of color could have impacted their work on the committee

1:25.6

in ways as profound as their training at Harvard Law School

1:28.9

or career as military prosecutors would have. In fact, their mix of lived experience and professional

1:36.4

legal experience would have been just what America needed at a moment like this.

1:43.8

The January 6th committee's existence,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Diaspora Farms, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Diaspora Farms, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.