This Morning with Harry Dunn

Harry Dunn spoke this morning in Milwaukee.

He is one of the Capitol Police Officers who valiantly defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. For his heroism, Mr. Dunn received the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Citizens Medal. After the attack, he spoke out, testified in Congress, stood up for his fellow officers, ran for Congress himself, and spent months traversing the United States as an advocate for democracy.

Harry Dunn is quite tall, very substantial, with an easy manner and a ready smile. His hands, which I watched while he was scrolling through his phone to find his next point to make, are beautiful and expressive. I can’t imagine him arresting someone or using a gun, but he was a police officer. That’s what they do.

I sat in the second row, maybe fifteen feet from the speakers’ table. When I caught Mr. Dunn’s eye, I said, “Welcome,” not thinking he’d actually hear me but he right away said, “Thanks for having me,” with that beautiful smile that made me wish he was my brother-in-law or cousin or somebody I’d see every holiday. After saying “Welcome,” I wanted to say, “I’m sorry,” but he’d looked away by then. What was I thinking? That I needed to apologize for violent thugs? For my country? I don’t know. Later, someone else apologized, and he waved it away, “You have nothing to apologize for,” he said.

He didn’t talk about what happened. He talked about what to do next. He seemed to refuse to be a victim, as if being a victim would diminish his power in the world. So, he brought his power to Milwaukee to be respected instead of his victimhood to be pitied. When someone asked what he would say to the current president, Mr. Dunn said, “Nothing. He doesn’t deserve my time.” I was struck by that, the superiority of it, the reminder that one shouldn’t have to listen to someone who has done such wrong in the world.

Mr. Dunn was clearly angry, despite the smile and the forward looking. It’s the anger we all need to have. This is all wrong. No one is coming to save us. We have to fix this ourselves. Here he was, a few years ago, just a regular guy, a cop at the Capitol. And now he’s an American hero, at least to me.

I consider myself lucky to have been in his presence.