Jan 6, 2023 - News

Capitol tours don't mention Jan. 6

Capitol tours are leaving out a big part of the Capitol's history. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Two years ago today, Washingtonians were glued to their televisions, watching a violent insurrection unfold at the U.S. Capitol. These days, on official tours of the building, the history of the riot is missing.

What’s happening: The newly renovated exhibition hall in the visitor’s center doesn’t address Jan. 6. A seven-minute film teeing up the tour is silent on the attack. And guides are told not to mention the insurrection unless asked, the Washington Post reports.

  • “It is a policy that in many ways reflects a country at odds with itself,” the Post’s Joe Heim writes, “unable to agree on fact and truth and reluctant to engage on the history of a day that threatened democracy.”

Zoom out: Some 930 people have been arrested and 508 convicted in connection with Jan. 6, per the Post. Nearly 200 people have been sentenced to prison, per the AP.

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