Scatological 'memorial' to Jan. 6 turns heads on the National Mall

WASHINGTON — Chris Shields remembers watching the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol from his D.C. office and texting his friends still on the Hill.

They shared their disbelief and collectively wondered whether they should leave the city, Shields, a former staffer who left Congress in 2009, recalled Thursday afternoon from the eastern edge of the National Mall.

In front of him stood an installation, of unknown provenance, that featured a wooden desk (painted bronze), topped with a phone, a name plate reading “Nancy Pelosi,” and a large, sculpted pile of poop.

A faux plaque at the base of the sculpture states, in part, “This memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021 to loot, urinate, and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election.”

Shields, who called the events of Jan. 6 “devastating,” is a fan.

“The way that Jan. 6 has been spun — this is what (actually) happened,” said Shields, who’d seen a post about the sculpture on social media and decided to bring his young sons to visit the “poop statue.”

“They beat police, broke stuff and defecated. It’s just amazing people have forgotten about this,” Shields continued. “I think it’s a really clever way of making light of it, but also reinforcing what happened.”

The Huffington Post scooped the statue Thursday morning, and the National Park Service confirmed that the people behind the installation obtained a permit. The desk will remain on the mall until Oct. 30, and a second sculpture of a tiki torch will be installed in Freedom Plaza on Oct. 28 and remain there until Halloween. Civic Crafted LLC is listed as the permittee.

The installation spread quickly via social media on Thursday and drew a crowd throughout the day. People kicked at the base and handled the desk to judge its sturdiness. A pair of police officers on bikes stopped and shared a laugh.

Others were less amused.

Lindsay Daniels, who lives in Annapolis, Md., stopped by with her mother, Cheryl McBride, who was visiting D.C. for the first time from Philadelphia. Both thought it was in bad taste.

“I feel like it’s surprising that there’s a memorial, even as a mockery of the situation. There were still people involved in that,” Daniels said. “I don’t feel like there needs to be a memorial for this, as a true memorial or as a mockery memorial.”

“I think a lot of untruth was spoken about that day,” McBride said. “And I think it’s a shame, but some people are still in jail for that. They didn’t even do anything and they’re in jail.”

In addition to the documented violence against police on Jan. 6, at least one rioter boasted of defecating in the Capitol, according to court documents. And members of Congress have described seeing damage to hallways and offices. “There was urine. There was clear desecration,” Hakeem Jeffries, who now serves as House minority leader, told WNYC at the time.

Jan. 6 has become a hotly contested partisan issue. Under GOP control of the House, Republicans this Congress have sought to downplay Donald Trump’s role in the lead-up to, and on the day of, the attack and launched an investigation to poke holes in the findings of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 select committee.

Congressional Republicans have also declined to unveil a plaque — which was mandated by the fiscal 2022 spending omnibus — honoring officers who protected the Capitol that day, despite claims from Democrats that the monument is finished and waiting to be installed.

Many Democrats have expressed fear of a repeat if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election. The Department of Homeland Security announced in September a special security designation for the Capitol this Jan. 6, when Congress certifies Electoral College votes.

Shields, for one, said he’s concerned about what this year’s anniversary could bring.

“I think anybody who lives in D.C., we’re all cognizant of what that day could be,” Shields said.

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