a photograph of new jersey congressman

andy kim cleaning up debris in the

capital rotunda after last year's

insurrection became one of the most

unforgettable images from january 6

2021. the blue suit he wore that day has

even been donated to the smithsonian

institution which has been collecting

objects in an attempt to document the

infamous day in american history while

it's still hard for the congressman to

make sense of what happened a year ago

he sat down with me to reflect on what

he remembered when the mob pushed past

police and into the building

bring us back to that day one year ago

what was it like to be at the capitol on

january 6th

it was a

lot going on through my mind as we're

looking back at what happened a year ago

the best way i could describe it was

there was just a tremendous amount of

uncertainty and we just didn't know what

was happening at the time we were

scrambling trying to get to safety

trying to make sure that we are

somewhere where we can you know figure

out what comes next

we were there late into the evening

into the early morning to try to finish

the job of making sure that we are

fulfilling our constitutional duty of

certifying the electoral college vote

and congressman did you ever think your

act of cleaning the rotunda in the wake

of those riots would resonate with so

many people

no i did not um i did i didn't even

realize that i was being photographed

it was just something a very simple

small gesture

and i still to this day a year later

really believe that what i did was

unremarkable it was

just a

humble act of of service

i think the fact that it's resonated

with so many people

i think hopefully

has reminded us that we need a politics

that's grounded in service

and not partisanship and that we need to

have a lot more humility and empathy in

the way that we engage with others so

you know i i certainly have heard from a

lot of people over the last year

that that photograph helped them

start to turn the corner from january 6

and

understand what comes next

and has the country moved past that day

i mean have we learned anything from it

i think what we hopefully will take away

from this

is that we need to be vigilant

and that we need to be engaged

i've often

said that the opposite of democracy is

apathy it's if we give up if we just

turn our backs to it if we say why

bother

and i hope the lesson and the legacy of

january 6 is of a new era of engagement

in our democracy

given everything that has happened do

you believe we are more or less divided

today than a year ago

i wish i could tell you something other

than what i'm about to say but i i do

believe that we're we're actually more

divided today than we were a year ago

i certainly

disheartened by that i was hoping that

at least

one thing that would come out from

january 6 is perhaps it could have been

you know this shock to the system that

gets our democracy in a better position

and tries to forge some unity as this

country has done in the past after big

tragedies of national significance

but unfortunately the opposite has

happened

is not only do we not unite

but now january 6 has become this

political cudgel

that has been used to divide us further

and their disinformation and political

personal benefit has made it such that

we as americans cannot even agree on the

shared facts of what happened on that

day

i find that to be very sad and very

dangerous as well in terms of what comes

next

congressman andy kim once again thank

you for joining us and reflecting on

that very tough day and showing us the

power of a simple act of kindness thank

you

major funding for exploring hate has

been provided by the sylvia a and simon

b point of programming endowment to

fight anti-semitism the peter g peterson

and joan ganz cooney fund and patty

asquith-kenner

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