Harry Dunn Encourages Green Bay and Wisconsin to Stay Involved

GREEN BAY, WI- (WGBW) – Harry Dunn was at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, not as one of the protesters, not as one of the mob of insurrectionists who stormed the government buildings in an attempt stop a peaceful transfer of power, but as one of the US Capitol Police tasked with keeping order and protecting the nation’s capital, the lawmakers, and the people. Wednesday, Dunn was in Green Bay as an author, former capitol police officer, and activist to encourage people to get involved locally. 

He called January 6th the worst day of his life and the worst day for the country.

“ Everybody knows what they were doing on January 6th. Everybody knows where they were. Everybody remembers those horrible images,” said Dunn. “Those people, American citizens, attacking police officers and the institution of Congress. I mean, the Capitol! It’s the citadel! It’s the pinnacle of democracy!”

Speaking at the Greater Green Bay Area Labor Council, Harry Dunn called out legislators, candidates, and leaders who do not condemn the 1500 pardons issued by President Donald Trump on the first day of his presidency.

“Listen, anytime I get the opportunity to push back against individuals that are downplaying, whitewashing, diminishing, flat-out lying, or trying to erase what happened that day, what me and my co-workers went through–that fails to condemn these pardons, that should be easy. That should be easy. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong!” Dunn said.

Dunn said 140 officers reported injuries from the January 6th insurrection. But he emphasized that was the number of officers who actually reported their injuries. He said many first responders didn’t report broken fingers, contusions, or even small gunshot wounds. 

The January 6 Effect

Others in attendance at the event also spoke about how the actions on January 6, 2021, affected them here in Wisconsin.

State Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay), who arranged for Harry Dunn to come to Green Bay, said January 6th affected not only people in the capitol but also put local clerks and election officials in the crosshairs of conspiracy theorists and election deniers.

“They believed that I stole the election for Joe Biden. And that preceded three years of harassment and stalking of me and my family, from racial epitaphs to homophobic slurs to popping and vandalizing my car. We had to work with the FBI. We had to get police protection,” Rivera-Wagner said “I spent years, actually, while trying to make this city work for everybody, also having to defend my husband and my family from right-wing conspiracy theorists who thought it was completely acceptable to harass me.”

Sam Liebert of the non-profit “All Voting is Local” was a city clerk during the 2020 elections and, like Rivera-Wagner, found himself a target of harassment. He needed police escorts to get home from work and had to buy a security system to protect his family and children.

“The events of January 6 really were just not an attack on a building or a single moment. They were an attack on our collective voices as Americans, as Wisconsinites,” Liebert said. “The insurrection– It was a brazen and egregious attack on our democracy, attempting to silence millions of voters.”

One of the ways Rivera-Wagner hopes to help election officials and poll workers in the future is with pending legislation to allow early processing of absentee ballots.