The Sixth.

Amazing documentary alert.

Excellent, moving and necessary.

Discussing an actual event, just factually, that took place in our own country is now considered “political.” Seem familiar? Teaching America’s sin of slavery and the genocide of indigenous people, atrocities that happened IN OUR COUNTRY, to our next generation of citizens has been made “controversial” instead of a non-negotiable.

I had the good fortune of attending private schools in both West Virginia and South Carolina, and I was barely educated on the horror that occurred here in any meaningful or non-clinical fashion. It was glossed over at best, ignored entirely at worst. In fact, I despised history class. The only history class that inspired me in any way was Art History, as art had a way of adhering to truth and beauty and emotion.

Most history I learned was taught to me by men who repeated timelines with drone like inflections and mandated memorizing dates rather than story. Had anyone bothered to try to bring to life how humans lived before me popping out of my birthday cake on this big blue marble, maybe an interest and curiosity would have been sparked earlier in me. However, it was not, and so most of my understanding of history has been gleaned through…(ta-da!) documentaries.

Recently I viewed a documentary I wish everyone and the entire Samuel Alito household would seek out, sit down, press play and view. Not only is it excellently crafted, but the stories shared by the participants came at an emotional cost. Hopefully one that bought them a deeper understanding and slight peace from what they witnessed and endured.

The film is called THE SIXTH and it focuses on six individuals who were present during the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington D.C. Mystifyingly, this visceral film is not being widely shared or pushed. I read it was supposed to be shown on the Amazon Prime streaming service, but it has been “tabled” since after the election? I find this nuts, since I watched a lot of what transpired that day on the news, in real time. And, subsequently I consumed podcasts about it, watched two documentaries about it, tuned in to all of the J6 Commission’s presentation and have seen various clips of the siege online.

So. What gives, Amazon Prime?

How is it that an event, that took place just three and a half years ago is too hot to handle? Why are you muting essential viewing that could arm people with a sense of what is possible if people choose voting for a colossal grifter again?

Any gesture preventing an electoral path for an autocracy/kleptocracy/idiocracy (an idiokleptautocracy? Can Chappell Roan fit that into a pop song?) easily leading us to a future where voting is no longer an option again after November is noble. Brave souls before me put it all on the line for me to even have the right to cast a ballot. And my cynical side is not immune to grappling with binaries or candidate “purity tests” or the frustratingly slow pace of incrementalism that mimics molasses at Christmas and mostly….money running the show at the expense of a kinder gentler society full of creativity and joy and deep human connection. And, sure, I hope we can get as noisy about that money thing as body autonomy. Don’t you think more people would vote if there was some way to regulate election spending (aka influencing?) I do. But I will still vote with intention, in spite of the flaws of governance.

Recently I heard an expert on autocracy interviewed, and she said “pessimism is irresponsible.” I took that to heart. I hope you will too and still vote.

I am linking to the THE SIXTH film’s website here. And including a trailer as well. I was able to stream the movie under a Los Angeles Public Library membership through the library streamer Kanopy. One can also purchase the film to view on the commercial streamers that sell or rent, but I am very disappointed it is not included in the Amazon Prime slate, included with a subscription, with a splashy homepage landing and a sobering marketing campaign to assist everyone to find their way to the film. I learned some new and horrifying details from the insurrection from watching it, and I believed I had already learned everything there was about it possible. This film made clear to me there are even more nuanced and layered stories to uncover, still, about that event. Unsure if Amazon Prime is being political in burying it or if there is some other mundane Hollywood reason like they want it to get Oscar attention. Which, knowing Hollywood, could be some weird mindset that trumps getting it to as many viewers as possible, as quickly as possible.

And if kids are taught any history at all in our future, January 6th will be a date memorized along the lines of the attack on Fort Sumter. An act so inconceivable and egregious it divided our country with violence and hatred as its gulf. I worry the traitors who were ready to kill Former Vice President Mike Pence and an entire police force are planning an even worse attack if we don’t choose to use our brains and our hearts to shape things to go a better way. A peaceful way.

And, as a side note, will there be insurrection re-enactments in less than a hundred years like those Civil War re-enactors? Maybe this is why I never got into history class. No way would I dress up as the Q-Anon Shaman to mime standing in the senate chambers looking like the biggest idiot on the planet.

If you check out the documentary, the comments are open to start a discussion below! Drop some thoughts and, of course, be kind to yourselves and others.

Peace out, Janie