Jack Del Rio, a journeyman NFL coach who has run the Washington Commanders’ defense for the past two years, has some thoughts on what happened in the nation’s capital last January.
“I can look at images on the TV, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down. No problem,” he said of the racial justice demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020. “And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we’re going to make that a major deal. I just think it’s kind of two standards, and if we apply the same standard and we’re going to be reasonable with each other, let’s have a discussion. Let’s have a discussion. We’re Americans. Let’s talk it through.”
Washington Commanders Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio says there are “two standards” between Black Lives Matter protests and January 6th:
“We have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we’re gonna make that a major deal.” pic.twitter.com/Nd5pd0mhTc
— The Recount (@therecount) June 8, 2022
The House committee investigating the Capitol attack will hold the first of six public hearings on Thursday night. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the committee, has said that the panel’s findings will “blow the roof off the House” while teasing that former President Trump did more than simply “incite” what happened last Jan. 6.
Del Rio’s comments came in the wake of a tweet he posted Monday wondering why Congress is investigating the violent attempt to overthrow democracy on Jan. 6 instead of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations the previous summer. “Would love to understand “the whole story” about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ??? #CommonSense,” he wrote.
Del Rio regularly shares right-wing views on Twitter and has promoted posts from conspiracy theorists like Jack Posobiec, Dinesh D’Souza, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). He recently wrote that “we must protect our children,” apparently in reference to a Texas lawmaker proposing a law that would ban minors from watching drag shows. Del Rio has also indicated opposition to measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Del Rio was previously the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders. Washington is the third team for which he’s served as defensive coordinator. The Commanders gave up over 25 points per game last season, ranking 25th out of 32 teams in the league.
Source: RollingStone
