Patsi Laracuente
Stand Up for America
Posted on Facebook
The morning of January 6, 2021 My husband Dallas and I got up and got ready to head into downtown DC. For him getting ready meant grabbing his pack and tossing on clothes. For me getting ready meant making sure my backpack had what I needed for the day, I had on my daughters Airborne shirt on and had my Papas ballcap. It also meant putting on a Depends. Hey…. I had no idea what was about to happen but I certainly wasn’t banking on any portajohns. Once ready we set out to the Pentagon City Metro stop in front of our hotel. My brother Mike met us there with friends. They had driven in from Virginia Beach. We all got on the metro. My brother and I (who are familiar with the metro system) helped our group and a few other patriots who needed assistance before hopping the train into DC.
We were on the train with many others and got off on the Federal Triangle stop. Once outside folks stopped and put flags together and gathered themselves and we all walked towards the Ellipse. As we approached Constitution Avenue and the Washington Monument came into view I was struck by the number of patriots the Monument towered above. We walked along and I saw some National Guardsman ahead. I noticed them nodding. A LOT. As I walked by I thanked him for being there. He nodded at me too. (I’ll bet their necks hurt that night after all those thank you’s they got.) I looked around at the smiles of so many Patriots. People just kept coming and packing in. Filling the Ellipse all the way back past the Washington Monument and through the streets. Everyone was excited and happy to be there. The mood was one of celebrating our Patriotism together in the Nations Capitol. Men and women of all ages and races from all over not only the country… but the world. Immigrants from Cambodia, South Vietnam, Romania, Cuba, China, and Venezuela were there too. They were giving out information about the CCP and Communism. They were BEGGING to get information into people hands to stop it from coming here too. All of us together and packed shoulder to shoulder… waiting for President Trump to speak.
It was then that one of the girls in the group needed the restroom. So we trudged off through the crowd to try to find any port a johns. We worked our way pushing kindly through the crowd. Our apologies were met with no problems the whole way. As I lead the group with my husband holding onto my back pack it struck me how dangerous it was. We were PACKED in. There were no paths. It was shoulder to shoulder patriots in the street, and on the statues, and in the trees! Folks were really nice and helped Dallas and I through as soon as they say his cane. (He got lots of compliments on his bravery for being there blind.) I started to panic and started dry heaving. They found a little bit of an area around a tree with some space and I gathered myself. Chris and Tony took the ladies to the restroom and Mike, Dallas, Phil and Joel backed me up as I pushed us back towards the edge of the crowd where there was some space and waited for the President to speak. While we waited we watched police officers with bikes maneuver though the crowd. Easily, without harassment and with smiles on their faces.
The president came out and gave his speech. Everyone hushed and was straining to hear but the wind and crowd made it difficult. It wasn’t long and then… Pence dropped his letter. Once that letter was released the crowd started to the Capitol. Our group was waiting on the president to stop speaking (I cant imagine walking out on any president speaking !!) with many others. But as word got around about the Pence letter another letter dropped. One from Italy. People were grabbing their sign and flipping them over and writing on them “ Italy did it” to spread the word of the affidavit that also dropped.
Split from our group who hadn’t returned from the portajohns and with the amount of people heading to the Capitol increasing we kept trying to reach the other half of our group. Cell calls didn’t work, texts were very, very spotty and you couldn’t get pics out, nor could you use walkie talkies and I couldn’t even connect my speaker via blue tooth. So we walked to the prediscussed group meeting spot. That’s when the president finished his speech and the big surge joined those that had started to march. I stood up on a raised vent on the corner of the 1400 block of Constitution and took videos and pictures of the ocean of people flooding major roads marching in solidarity. Proud to be Americans having our voices heard. There was no way to ignore this many of us!!!I A woman from Ohio jumped on the vent with me to video. She had tears in her eyes and I was crying. Many men and women were doing the same. Overwhelmed with patriotism and the fact that we were not alone. She said “Look… its unbelievable. How will we describe it?” I couldn’t answer her though my tears. We decided there was no way to find the rest of our group in the sea of people even with a specific spot. It was too many people and the march was over 3 streets and the sidewalks and the grounds of the buildings!!! So we sent a hail mary text hoping they would get it saying to meet at the designated spot at 3:30… the time my brother planned to leave DC.
As we walked to the Capitol folks were singing Patriotic songs, chanting USA! And STOP THE STEAL! And WE LOVE TRUMP! There was no rushing or angry stampede. Folks from all over walking shoulder to shoulder in unity, proud to be being heard! Finally !!! After allllll the censorship of the media and social media… here we were! They cant ignore us now right?!?! Then we got a call from the other part of our group. We made plans to stop at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and wait on the rest. Melissa , a fellow patriot from home appeared at that time! “Dude!!!” she yelled “No Way” I yelled back. We hugged and talked about what we were hearing. We told her and her group that we just heard 2 senate buildings had been evacuated. We chatted and hung a while. We watched down a through street as a MASSIVE flag walked down the next road. That was the flag you see hanging up in all the pics showing people surrounding the Capitol on the news. It was then we were told that tear gas was deployed, barriers breeched or removed (we heard both had happened) and mace and concussion grenades were being used. Melissas group wanted to press on and asked what we were going to do. I turned to talk to my brother and he said “Remember what its like trying to get out of DC on July 4th…. This is so much bigger then that” I agreed and turned to tell Melissa we were staying with my brother. But all I saw was her disappearing in to the march to head to the capitol. I have a distinct memory of thinking to myself “I hope shes going to be okay and I wonder if Ill see her again”. The group, once again united, decided to be safe and head back out. It was then I noticed the police.
I turned to Dallas and said “the police are leaving. They are driving away from the Capitol.” We knew then something was very very wrong. If a hugely protected building had been breeched why were police leaving? So we hustled back to the Federal Triangle Metro stop in the direction away from the Capitol. Dallas and I made it to the metro and waited on the rest to catch up. When they did my brother reported that a whole bunch of police went flying down Constitution now back TOWARDS the capitol. This was over 20 minutes after we had heard about people being inside the Capitol! So I did a snippet video about that as well and we got on the train back to the Pentagon City Metro stop.
I can not convey enough. The mood overall was one of unmatched Patriotism and raising our collective voices to be heard in a forum that could not be silenced by the censorship we have endured for so long. I will leave you with my two favorite quotes. Ones that helped me through the enormity of the day.
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it.” - Nelson Mandela
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”. - Benjamin Franklin
Patsi Laracuente, Patriot
