"For many congressional staff members and Capitol workers, in particular people of color, the damage wrought on Wednesday was visceral."

"It will be a long time before they feel safe again at work, they say, knowing that a building once thought to be among the most secure in Washington could be breached by a mob carrying, among other things, a Confederate flag and displaying anti-Semitic iconography.... The Capitol Police have come under fire for seeming, at times, to offer little resistance to the pro-Trump mob. While some experts defended their actions as prioritizing the protection of lawmakers over the securing of the building, many congressional staff members, along with custodial and food service workers, were left wondering whether they were safe.... Black staff members in particular said the rampage had reminded them of the struggles they had often had to come to terms with in order to work for Congress.... One Black congressional staff member who also took a walk through the Capitol to survey the aftermath on Wednesday night said that despite all the damage, he had been stopped in his tracks outside Representative Steny Hoyer’s office, where a poster honoring John Lewis, the congressman and civil rights leader who died in August, had been displayed. It was missing. He looked for it feverishly and found only a broken piece on the ground next to a trash can. The image of Mr. Lewis was gone. All that remained of his celebrated quote, 'Get into good trouble, necessary trouble,' were the final two words — smudged by a boot print."

From "Rampage Weighs on Congressional Staff Members and Capitol Workers/The violence caused by a pro-Trump mob on Wednesday has shaken many who work at the Capitol. And some people of color say the law enforcement response reopened old wounds" (NYT).