Last year, I had the idea to write a piece about the January 6th Riot for my state party to hand out at the Maryland State Fair. It was a historical analysis comparing an actual insurrection to the riot on Capital Hill which Democrats and the Media have tried mislabelling as an insurrection. Unfortunately, the political director of the state party thought it was a better policy to just let the whole January 6th thing die naturally, a decision I didn’t quite agree with since Democrats never let anything die unless it’s going to testify against the Clintons. So with the exception of one street festival in Baltimore City which was under the sole discretion of the Baltimore City GOP, this wonderful analysis hasn’t seen the light of day till now. So please enjoy and be educated by this little piece entitled:

Lets Talk About January 6th

A Political Analysis by William Joseph Hellmann

Democrats and the media have tried framing January 6th as a Republican insurrection. Not only is this untrue, it’s also ironic since the only successful insurrection in the United States was committed by Democrats.

What are we talking about?

The incident has a few names. The Wilmington Massacre, The Wilmington Coup, but the most common name is The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. It occurred on November 10th, 1898

What is the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898?

Even though North Carolina underwent Reconstruction, the Democrats had retaken political control of most of the state relying on a toxic combination of voter fraud and voter suppression using violent armed groups during the 1870s and the 1880s. Despite this, they only had solid political control of the western half of North Carolina. In the 1890s, Republicans and smaller Populist Parties had formed various fusionist governments with black and white elected officials, and they began to win statewide elections. This continued till the North Carolina Midterm Elections of 1898 when Democrats once again used force to prevent Black people and Republicans from voting. In this way, the Democrats retook the State Legislature and many local offices, however, they were unable to retake the city government of Wilmington North Carolina as the City Council and Mayor were not up for election that year.

This upset many Democrats, especially those in Wilmington because the City Council included black men. The Democrats did not want to wait till an election year, however, and led by Democrat Alfred Moore Waddell on the morning of November 9th, 1898, the Democrats of Wilmington issued an open letter calling for an end to black voting rights and for the Wilmington City Government to be transferred to Democrat control with a threat of violence if the fusionist government didn’t comply. When Waddell and the Democrats did not receive a response on November 10th, Waddell started the insurrection by leading a group of 500 Democrats to the local black-owned newspaper and setting it on fire.

By the time they had successfully set the paper ablaze, the crowd has swelled to 2000 people. The Majority of the group then proceeded to riot throughout Wilmington, focusing mainly on the neighborhoods inhabited primarily by black citizens. In the ensuing chaos, Alfred Waddell led a small group of armed militants to round up the Mayor, Sheriff, and City Council and forced them all to resign at gunpoint before installing himself as mayor.

Aftermath

Waddell and his mob immediately banished the White Republican officials from the city after beating and humiliating them. Waddell’s mob then continued to terrorize and lynch the black population of Wilmington for days. Despite taking power through illegitimate methods, Waddell remained the mayor of Wilmington till 1906. There were no legal repercussions for the rioters despite the multitude of eyewitness testimonies. In 2000 the North Carolina State Legislature commissioned a report on the Wilmington Insurrection. While the findings released 6 years later were slightly whitewashed to minimalize the connection between these events and the current Democratic Party, the report did say that the massacre was “Part of a statewide effort to put White Supremacist Democrats in office and stem the political advances of Black Citizens.”

So What Does This Have to Do with January 6th Again?

Well as we said at the start, Democrats have tried to send the message that January 6th was an insurrection. It wasn’t however. In fact, nothing that took place on January 6th even comes close to what happened in Wilmington. The FBI has even said there is no evidence the events of January 6th were an organized attempt to overthrow the government. In fact, the actions that were taken by those who entered the capitol actually hurt their cause as it discouraged many politicians who were initially opposed to certifying the 2020 electoral college results until audits were done to address irregularities during the election. The whole incident at best could be considered just a mere riot. However, despite this, it is being marketed as an insurrection and people who were arrested in connection to the event are being treated like political prisoners even though the majority of them are facing minor charges like trespassing and vandalism. One man was even forced by a judge at sentencing to pledge an oath of loyalty to Joe Biden and his administration as a condition of his sentencing.

What is the Difference Between January 6th and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898?

This small chart highlights the differences between January 6th and an ACTUAL insurrection:

	January 6th	The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898
Motives	Individuals involved were concerned about Election Integrity after the 2020 election and its concerning irregularities	Individuals involved wanted to remove Black and Republican politicians to restore Democrat control
Threat Level	Individuals were armed with flag poles and bear mace	Individuals involved were armed with rifles, cannons, and a Gatling Gun stolen from the Wilmington Armory
Damage Done	Smashed windows, stolen items, broken barriers	An entire neighborhood was burnt to the ground, doors were smashed, windows were broken, the only black-owned newspaper in the city was burnt to the ground
Government Involvement	Capitol guards allowed some rioters in, then opened fire on one rioter and killed her	Wilmington Light Infantry assisted the Democrats by killing black people, then joined a procession as they led the beaten and abused Republicans to a train going out of town.
Deaths	1 death directly related to the incident, 36-year-old Ashli Babbitt. She was one of the rioters	An estimated 300 Black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina were murdered by Waddell’s mob
Reaction to the Incident	Condemnation by the media, accusations that it was an insurrection and participants were terrorists. Prosecutions by the Justice Department.	The media claimed it was justified. Claimed blacks instigated the violence. None of the insurrectionists were prosecuted.
Aftermath	Joe Biden was still seated as 46th President of the United States, no audits were done till months after the election. Joe Biden will remain in office till he is voted out or impeached.	The leader of the insurrectionists remained Mayor of Wilmington till 1906 despite the criminal acts he used to take office. Blacks in Wilmington and the rest of North Carolina were effectively robbed of the right to vote till the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Democrats still hold power in Wilmington today.

So now ask yourself, was January 6th really an insurrection, or just a riot?