It’s been a long, troubling week since terrorists invaded the U.S. Capitol, resulting in five lives lost and a country shaken to its core. Never one to shy away from speaking her mind, Megan Rapinoe talked for six minutes on the subject when asked about it during a U.S. Soccer conference call on Tuesday.
While U.S. lawmakers grapple with how to deal with the fallout of Jan. 6’s failed insurrection, the USWNT is holding a January camp ahead of a pair of friendlies against Colombia later this month.
The first question posed to Rapinoe during a post-practice media availability was, unsurprisingly, about the terrorist attack of Jan. 6. The 2019 Women’s World Cup Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner provided a thoughtful answer, which is available at length in the above video and a transcript below.
For those looking for the tl;dr, Rapinoe called out the murderous attack as being a product of white supremacy, comparing it to a lynch mob. Here are some of the notable quotes:
“This is America, make no mistake about it. I think we showed very much our true colors. This is not the first time we’ve seen a murderous mob like that. Unleashing a white supremacist mob is nothing new to America, as people of color, Black or brown know very well.”
“Hopefully this is the last layer that we needed to rip off, although it’s been abundantly clear for a number of hundred years what the real issue is: This was about white supremacy and holding up white supremacy.”
“This is a huge stain on the country but hopefully an opportunity for us to move forward in the way that we need to.”
Much of the press conference dealt with issues more important than soccer and it’s worth watching the whole interview. Rapinoe was asked about the insurrectionist who was photographed wearing USWNT gear and her answer was slightly bleeped in the U.S. Soccer video.
"That is not the kind of fan that we will welcome," Rapinoe says of the photo of a woman in a #USWNT shirt and Trump mask following the attempted coup at the Capitol.
"Don't bring that bullshit here."— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) January 12, 2021
Below is the transcript for her initial answer. For more on the terrorist attack, be sure to read a legitimate news source like the Associated Press, lest you become as misinformed as the mob that attempted to overthrow democracy last week.
Megan Rapinoe On Jan. 6 Terrorist Attack (slight edits for clarity)
“It’s just striking how horrible it was and just how insane it was, from the climate in the country being such that we have our political leaders, our chief political leader inciting an actual, real-life, murderous and deadly insurrection against his own government, against his own people, against his own party — the Vice President of the United States was in the halls of Congress, as were Congress people and Senators alike, and all the people that work in that building as well, from the staff to the Capitol Police, etc. To see where we’ve come in these four years has been devastating, and also hopefully the final straw for so many people to really understand the reason we’re here is because we never have actually had a reckoning with what our country really is. This is America, make no mistake about it. I think we showed very much our true colors. This is not the first time we’ve seen a murderous mob like that. Unleashing a white supremacist mob is nothing new to America, as people of color, Black or brown know very well.
“All the calls for unity cannot come without justice. If we do not punish this and investigate this to the fullest extent, it only encourages more of this to happen. I think too we should not underestimate what could have happened. I think we were very lucky that that officer led them away from the Senate halls, that mob. We saw people with weapons, and people with zip-ties. They put up a gallows outside the Capitol building. They were chanting to hang the Vice President of the United States.
“I think we should make no mistake about what the intent was behind it. It was a murderous mob — five people are dead, and we can’t bring them back. This week certainly will be hugely consequential in the history of our country. It’s going to be very intense but just from a personal standpoint it’s very unsettling and scary. I think the courage of the lawmakers to get back in there and continue their work and the other bottomlessness of other lawmakers to continue to incite violence and still call for overturning the election when the mandate’s been given by the people of the United States is absolutely insane, they should be held accountable. I think for us to move on that has to happen. We obviously have an extremely long road, amidst a global pandemic — you literally have people sheltering from an insurrection happening on the Capitol and they still won’t wear masks.
“Hopefully this is the last layer that we needed to rip off, although it’s been abundantly clear for a number of hundred years what the real issue is: This was about white supremacy and holding up white supremacy and I hope that we can see this and move forward with justice and I think that’s the only way that we can actually move forward. I think it’s all out in the open, it’s all stripped bare, so hopefully the lawmakers will have the courage to do what needs to be done and everyday citizens as well will understand that we have a part to play in it just as everybody else does.
“This is a huge stain on the country but hopefully an opportunity for us to move forward in the way that we need to.”
