We all know what happened at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, but why is no one discussing the anti-semitism involved in the event, such as the congress-elect who blatantly agreed with Hitler the day prior?

Mary Miller, a Trump-endorsed Illinois congress-elect, stood up in front of the Capitol and announced that, “Hitler was right on one thing, that whoever has the youth has the future.” Yes, you read that correctly. The 61 year-old politician and farmer made the active choice to publicly concur with Adolf Hitler.

Margot McGowan Staebler, a democrat from Michigan, accidentally caught this atrocious statement on tape while filming herself commenting on the lack of mask wear-ers at this rally hosted by “Moms for America”. She uploaded it to Twitter on January 5th at 5:03 PM where it gained national attention. The tweet now has tens of thousands of likes, comments, and retweets.

Unfortunately, not everyone who saw the video was as disgusted as Staebler was. People all over the country had mixed reactions to the video, and spoke out about how they felt. There are comments on the video on several different platforms praising Miller for what she said, and even criticizing Staebler. One comment on the viral video stated, “This quote is taken out of context; she did nothing wrong.” Another comment said, “The person filming this failed listening at the ninth grade level.” Thankfully, not everyone agreed with Miller. Politicians have called out her remarks all over social media. Governor J.B. Pritzker went on to post, “Let me be clear. Hitler got nothing right. This reprehensible rhetoric has no place in our politics. Illinois Republicans cannot allow this to stand and must condemn this vile, evil streak in their party.” Many people replied to what he said, by agreeing that Miller should be condemned. The video has caused conflicting responses both agreeing and disagreeing with the statement.

Many inspirational political leaders have spread similar messages about how the ‘youth has the future.’ Miller could have easily quoted leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or Mahatma Gandhi, who have all spoken about the youth of the world. One of Nelson Mandela’s most famous quotes states, “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” Similarly, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future.” These two quotes hold close messages to the one that Miller used, and she could have easily chosen many other similar quotes as well. By blatantly choosing to quote and agree with Hitler, she has contributed to the issue of anti-semitism within the United States. 

The riot that ensued the following day was no more supportive of the Jewish community. Protesters arrived at the Capitol sporting openly anti-semetic shirts. One man’s shirt read “Camp Auschwitz” with text below that read “work brings freedom” (a rough translation of the words displayed at the gate of Auschwitz, an infamous concentration camp) and text on the back that said “staff”. Another man’s shirt read “6MWE” which stands for 6 Million Wasn’t Enough (referring to the 6 million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust). These two men were not the only one’s proudly displaying their antisemitism, though. Other plainly antisemetic clothing was worn, and neo-nazi groups such as The National Socialist Club (NSC), proudly posted about their presence at the riot. 

While this is disappointing, it is in no way surprising. At this point in the world, anti-semitic incidents are at an all-time high. Anti-semetic incidents have been tracked since 1979. Researchers have found that more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment towards the American Jewish community have been reported. In 2019, the Audit of Anti-Semetic Incidents stated that the total number of antisemetic incidents have increased by 12% in the span of a year, with a 56% increase in assault towards the Jewish community. The Audit also noted that, on average, up to six of these occurrences were reported everyday in the U.S. Almost every state had reported an anti-semetic incident in 2019, demonstrating how big of an issue these hate crimes are. 

Anti-semitism is clearly a raging issue in society, and one that Mary Miller and Capitol rioters have actively chosen to participate in. This is not something that should be taken lightly. The media has done a poor job at bringing awareness to this aspect of the riot, which is both a contributor to and a cause of the lack of understanding of anti-semitism in the present day society. So, we must educatuate ourselves and the ones around us on what is truly happening to the Jewish community in America.