On January 7, 2021, Logos President and author of “Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It,” Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in an article in Christian Science Monitor on his personal response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by insurrectionists on January 6. In the article, people from across the country react to the insurrectionists attack and reflect on what this means.
Below is an excerpt from this article:
Take the American story of Helio Fred Garcia. His family emigrated from Brazil in the 1960s. As a New York City debate champion in the 1970s he won a coveted spot as a congressional page during the Watergate summer of 1974.
He had come from a country with a military dictatorship, and when President Richard Nixon resigned, he thought there might be tanks in the streets. “And it didn’t happen,” he says.
Six years ago, he attended a reunion of former pages at the U.S. Capitol. He felt a bit overwhelmed. “When my wife and I were able to walk onto the House floor, tears ran down my cheeks – I’m tearing up a little right now,” says Mr. Garcia, now president of the crisis management firm Logos Consulting Group, and author of “Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It.”
So, unsurprisingly, after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building on Wednesday his emotions ran especially deep.
“I was heartbroken when I saw my sacred chamber being desecrated and attacked . . . For us, it really is a sacred place. It is a temple of democracy,” he says.
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