Head of D.C. Guard: Response to Jan. 6 Would Have Been Different If Rioters Were Black

The head of the District of Columbia National Guard said to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that he believes the law enforcement response would have been "vastly different" if the majority of the rioters had been Black, according to a newly-released transcript.

Gen. William J. Walker serves as the House sergeant at arms and was previously the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard during the attack. On April 21, 2022, he gave a sworn deposition, as reported by NBC News' Ryan Reilly. That transcript and other documents were released Tuesday in advance of the upcoming new Congress.

Walker is the first Black House sergeant at arms. He speculated that Black rioters would have been treated more harshly than white ones.

One of the committee staffers asked him about the "reluctance" for the Guard to deploy to the Capitol compared to the response during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020. "Some people talk about … the politics, the composition, racial composition of the protesters," the staffer posed to Walker.

"So I'm African American. Child of the ’60s. I think it would have been a vastly different response if those were African Americans trying to breach the Capitol," Walker replied. "As a career law enforcement officer, part-time soldier, last five years full, but a law enforcement officer my entire career, the law enforcement response would have been different."

Walker said he believed more rioters would have been killed if the crowd had not been primarily white, then reflected upon past experiences with the police and family talk about race.

"So I think it would have been a different — as a human being, as an African American, I think it would have been a different response by law enforcement on Jan. 6," Walker said. "And I'll let you fill that in, but I just know it would have been a different response. I know that from experience."

"I think the response would have been different, a lot more heavy-handed," Walker continued. "As a law enforcement officer, there were — I saw enough to where I would have probably been using deadly force."

He reiterated, "I think it would have been more bloodshed if the composition would have been different."

Walker added that he did not think race played a part in the "military's decision paralysis" regarding whether to send in the National Guard, just that race would have factored into a different physical response.

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