In a brief online ceremony Thursday at noon, local officials and community leaders commemorated the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president.
The event was organized by Marilyn Moran Townsend, a local business owner and founder of Advancing Voices of Women,
After a Fort Wayne native sang the national anthem, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry noted that the Star Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812, the last time the U.S. Capitol was attacked.
“So it is strange and uneasy for a lot of us to think about what happened just a year ago,” Henry said.
Our system of government, he continues, isn’t a guarantee.
“As Americans, it should be a reminder that our constitutional system of government is not something that we can take for granted,” he said.
Allen County Councilwoman Democrat Sheila Curry-Campbell also spoke, speaking of the direct threat to voting rights that sprang up in the wake of the lie that the 2021 presidential election was stolen.
No Republican representatives of local government were present for the ceremony.
