Pennsylvania high schools are receiving copies of a graphic novel highlighting the Democrats’ narrative of the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol protest.
“What would have happened if the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection had been successful?” asks The Morning Call.
The graphic novel, called 1/6: The Graphic Novel, aims to “convey the risks facing American democracy,” according to the outlet.
Alan Jenkins, a Harvard Law professor and co-author of the graphic novel, said the “forces that led to that insurrection … the white supremacy, disinformation — those things are all very still much with us.”
The first issue of the graphic novel imagines a “society controlled by armed militias who take over a TV network,” the outlet described.
In the second issue of the graphic novel, students read about events “leading up” to the January 6 event, including 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally.
The graphic novel also details the numerous challenges to the 2020 election results.
Schools will also receive an “action guide” that “lays out facts about the insurrection, the numbers of election deniers who won in the 2022 midterms, and increases in reported hate crimes, threats to public officials, and politicians banning books,” The Morning Call reported.
According to Jenkins, the contents of the action guide describe the “hallmark[s] of authoritarianism.”
“The forces of autocracy, bigotry, and disinformation that drove the 1/6 Insurrection have not gone away, and some have become even stronger,” the action guide says. “Now it’s up to all of us to prevent future insurrections and to strengthen our democracy for future generations.”
The graphic novel “travels the road that led from back-room meetings, white supremacist rallies, and the Four Seasons Landscaping parking lot to a violent attack on the Capitol that left several Americans dead and shook our nation to its core,” according to a description by the Western States Center, a producer of the graphic novel.
Pennsylvania was chosen as a focus area for the graphic novel as it is “one of the top states for book bans,” Jenkins said.
