As of this week, there’s a new law in California requiring community colleges to teach ethnic history. As a Filipino American, I hope that ethnic history includes how America colonized the Philippines. That history is of particular importance to me, especially this week of Jan. 6 when we observe the anniversary of the deadly Capitol riots, and we start using a term loosely.
Just don’t call the Capitol perps “insurrectionists.” Call them what they are: lawless, unprincipled hoodlums. Right-wing looters. Deluded Trump supporters. Acolytes of an authoritarian.
Insurrectionists take down authoritarians like Trump in the name of democracy. Insurrectionists are serious people, not armed lunatics lured by the smell of burnt gunpowder and the sound of broken glass. “Insurrectionists” is the legal term used for people intent on revolt in the name of an established government, in this case our democracy. 
Emil Guillermo
The Jan. 6 rioters were definitely anti-democracy to say the least. The best insurrectionists are pro-democracy. That would be Filipinos who after the Spanish American war, stood up to the American imperialists and established a Philippine democratic republic in Asia that was so significant it ended up starting the Philippine American War.
They were defenders of liberty, freedom, and democracy. In time, they were too good for the term “insurrectionists.” Not like the Capitol rioters.
Maybe we’ll get to learn the rioters' significance in history when all those subpoenaed by the bipartisan committee in Congress comply and testify. Then maybe we may actually uncover the truth of that day. That what we saw on January 6, 2021, was essentially a coup led by forces loyal to an ex-president who lost the election in November 2020.
That’s why the work of the committee is important--for the sake of our democracy. Jan. 6th should be Democracy Day in America. The vote of the people was protected by an outmanned Capitol Police force that thwarted an unruly mob out to destroy the basic right of all Americans. The mob couldn’t stop the votes from being certified and the election made official.
