Doc Rivers rips police response at Capitol: "Can you imagine if those were all Black people."

Like many of us, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has watched the footage of rioters carrying Trump flags and wearing MAGA hats storm through the U.S. Capitol.

The footage and images of the police response that have emerged from Wednesday’s attempted insurrection have been highly incongruous with the seriousness of what’s been happening. One clip circulating on social media shows a rioter taking a selfie with a police officer, another shows a Trump supporter carrying a lectern out of the Capitol building, presumedly as a souvenir. Yet another video shows police removing a barrier and letting the mob through the security gate onto the Capitol steps.

According the New York Times, a Capitol police officer said “We’ve just got to let them do their thing now.”

Rivers laid bare the fundamental difference between how police officers responded to white rioters outside and inside the Capitol and what we saw when Black Lives Matter protestors marched peacefully for social justice in cities across America this summer. Protestors were beaten, tear gas was used, some were run over with cars.

“It basically proves a point about a privileged life in a lot of ways. I will say it, because I don’t think a lot of people want to. Can you imagine today, if those were all black people storming the Capitol, and what would have happened?” Rivers said. “That, to me, is a picture that’s worth a thousand words for all of us to see. No police dogs turned on people, no billy clubs hitting people.”

To Rivers point, here’s a glimpse of the police response to a single Black protestor.

And here are police helping a rioter down the Capitol steps.

Rivers also went on to note that while today is a bleak day in American history, he hasn’t lost hope for the nation.

“Democracy will prevail. It always does.”