MIRACLE ON CONSTITUTION AVENUE
The real story of, Jan 6
INTRODUCTION
This is my account of my experience in Washington DC, January 6, 2021. In my testimony, I will use both facts and feelings to paint as rounded a picture as I can. I will do my best with words so that others may know what really happened that day. To support my testimony, I have video I took during the event. One of my videos, #4, should be greatly helpful to anyone wishing to understand what actually happened. All eight of my videos are available to all people, uncut and unedited (see below). I also have witnesses, friends that were there with me, and who like me and so many others, came in peace and know the truth of what really happened. I give my permission to use this account, given in full below, to anyone including a court of law, as my affidavit, my sworn statement, under penalty of perjury.
MY ACCOUNT OF THE EVENT
(written 3 days after the event, Jan 9, 2021)
I remember standing at the base of the Washington Monument. The great obelisk stood gray as the winter sky. Gray on gray with only the hope of sunshine. Around its base, a circle of flags whipped like freedom in the wind. Around those flags, a great throng of people, some say as many as a million but from where I stood, it looked like enough people to fill 3 to 5 NFL stadiums. We all felt the wind’s bite on that cold winter’s morn but that didn’t stop us from greeting one another with great warmth. We waved our banners in the air. Jubilation was all around. Patriots all around, without instruction, burst into song, “Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light….” We came from mountains and plains all across America. I think that for many of us, this was not only a protest of an election that could not be trusted due to incompetence, dirty political tricks, and meddling by oligarchs...we also came to protest a decades long lack of honesty from a self-deceived government that had lost its way.
Together we turned to march to the Capital. We marched to make our voices heard, that our Representatives in the halls of Congress might resist power’s corruptive nature. But we were not delusional. We knew that wherever power flowed like a river in flood, so would flow a flood of corruption, and it takes a flood of lies to cover a flood of corruption.
So it was, we took our impossible mission up Constitution Avenue. Along the way, beneath rows of great marble pillars, I saw things not to be believed. I saw a Patriot too old and frail to walk, slowly making her way with a walker. Meanwhile, a teenage boy and girl nearly skipped and danced along. And then again, as if one were not enough, I saw another elderly Patriot with a walker. I saw happy mothers and fathers with sons and daughters. Grandparents with their canes. A young mother with her baby in a stroller. A Yorkie on a leash sensing the spirit of the crowd, and therefore just as happy as could be. I heard no talk of violence, but I did hear a lot of folks praying aloud, lifting the name of Jesus. That was the kind of crowd we were. I remember it well. It was only the day before yesterday. I was there with my two companions. My friend Brian, a retired businessman. And my friend Jeffery, retired from a career in the military. And I am James, a small business owner.
Proceeding up the Avenue, Jeffery carried a Kansas State flag and was usually out in front. He compensated well but if one looked close, he limped from severe injuries sustained in the service of his country. Brian, a livelong Missourian, was the eldest at near seventy. And when he fell behind a third time, I asked in confidence as his friend and he confessed to having chest pains. We immediately found a bench where Brian could rest. Jeffrey and I wanted to get professional medical help but Brian insisted that we not. So we continued and, while Brian did his best to hide it, it was painfully obvious, each step took everything he had, literally everything. We stopped again so Brian could rest before proceeding. I prayed and then prayed some more. I lifted my eyes to heaven and asked what I should do. And if I understood God correctly in my heart, it was Brian’s call to make, not mine. In hindsight, I know that because of Brian’s faith, God saw him through.
Around the Reflecting Pool we went, beneath the Monument of Peace, across the lawn to the Capital’s giant patio where we stopped. We decided on the small white tent as a meeting place, and Brian remained on the lawn while Jeffery and I went across the patio to the police line. We made our way to the front near the left end of the police line and Jeffery spoke cordially with a few of the Capital police that were standing in formation. Almost immediately, Jeffery saw a Kansas flag flying near the right end of the police line and, he told me he was going to investigate. I remained near the left end and this is what I saw: A few angry young men (two or three at the most) came forward and began harassing the police, but mature Patriots told them to cool their heels. Then things got heated between the older Patriots and the angry young men. Some finger pointing and shouting, perhaps a little shoving. It didn’t last long, and I am not sure but I think the angry young men exited to the left. After that it was peaceful. The clamor of the crowd was loud. We were not shouting at the police or behaving badly. We were simply talking among ourselves (and my video proves it). We had no idea that, prior to our arrival, there had been a nasty scuffle between police and a group of angry young men. We did not know protestors had entered the building from the east side. We were the overwhelming mass of people on the west side of the building. And we had no intention of entering the building (this is evident by my video #4).
As God would have it, I was taking video with my phone, panning the full length of the police line and crowd when, to my left came the first explosion (upper left hand corner of video #4, at the 23 second mark, the flash of the explosion is visible). The explosion shocked and riled the crowd, not wildly but it did stir us up. At the end of the video, just after the first explosion you can hear a Patriot shouting, “What was that all about?” The explosion jolted me and put me on guard, so I put my phone in my pocket. My video shows that others also put their phones away at that time. Shortly afterwards, I got my phone back out and shot video #5 which shows people chanting, "USA, USA, USA," and pointing and gesturing at the DHS agents which I believe fired the flash grenade. I wish I would have kept filming continuously instead of in segments because shortly after that, percussion grenades, rubber bullets, and some kind of gas bombs came raining into the crowd. On the right side of the line, Jeffery was struck in the chest with a percussion grenade and gassed. On the left side, I was momentarily knocked to the ground by a rubber bullet that left a deep bruise on my thigh. I came up cursing and swearing in pain only to have a percussion grenade explode beside my head. It dazed me and temporarily knocked the hearing out in my right ear. After that I was repeatedly gassed which made it difficult and at one point nearly impossible to breath and see.
Now here’s the thing, because we were not inside the building but outside, and because our behavior was peaceful; we believed we had a right to be there as citizens and should not be driven off like vermin. We had no weapons but we did have our voices, and in the chaos, we began to shout, “This is our House! This is our House!” We shouted, "USA, USA, USA," and we tried to hold our ground under heavy fire even as we were pushed back. Ranks of police reinforcements came marching in double time. They were in full riot gear. Seeing them coming struck fear into my heart. Seriously, I was just an old man with no prior experience in rioting. As they came against us, we shouted in unison, “Hold the line! Hold the line!” They just kept coming at us. In doing so, they were attacking our Constitutional right to be there. We kept trying to hold our ground but we were being pushed back. Then with no other choice but flight or fight, we pushed back. However, the only video that is ever shown to the public does not show us being attacked repeatedly but instead only shows us fighting back, only shows us doing what Americans have always done when attacked; we fought back! And as we shoved them back, we shouted, “USA! USA! USA!”
As the situation heated up, we took our injured to the rear. There were a great many injured, mostly from gas in the lungs and eyes (not counting scrapes and bruises). Groups of Patriots came to the aid of those that had been injured. There were doctors and nurses among us. Many young Patriots came rushing from the back to reinforce our frontline. Jeffery got gassed bad and had to go to the rear. I remained near the front, an old man waving a MAGA flag on a broom stick. And today, looking back, it seems like some kind of episode from the twilight zone. Good people caught in crazy chaos; families dressed like going to a ballgame, men and women, boys and girls, the forgotten people of America. This is out of sequence but I saw a group of three or four teenage girls come rushing from the back. They looked like a group of kids you would see at the mall. As they came before the front, they saw how crazy it was and they paused. Before them, a group of young patriot men were beginning to break though, opening a path for others to follow. I watched as the one girl turned to her friends and with eyes wide said, “We have to! Our country is at stake!” and none of them turned back, but together rushed forward to disappear in the fray. And no, I couldn’t make this stuff up, but I watched it happen.
For over an hour the push went back and forth. Taking ground, we shouted, “This is our house! This is our house!” and “USA, USA, USA.” Loosing ground, we shouted, “Hold the line. Hold the line.” Finally, a few young Patriots broke through and began to climb the outer scaffolds of the grandstands. They were getting pulled down but one young man finally reached the top, stripped of his shirt which was red, white and blue, and began waving it in the air. The crowd cheered with wild jubilation. Encouraged, the Patriots gained momentum and, breaking through the police lines in more places, began to pour up the stairs beneath the scaffolds. Meanwhile on our side of the frontline, a central scaffold stood like a lone siege tower and, at its top, a Patriot with a megaphone was shouting, “Move forward! Move forward! Occupy the bleachers! Occupy the bleachers!”
A gigantic American flag came up Constitution Avenue like a wave of victory lifted on the hands of Patriots. It moved across the lawn as if gliding on air. A glorious sight to see, it floated to the frontline where Patriots passed it up the scaffolds. Then, as it unfurled from the top, the crowd again went wild with jubilation and rushed forward. Law enforcement turned and abandon the field. Shouts of victory went up as our youth climbed and filled the grandstands that were there for the inauguration. And there they sat, waving banners as if at a football game. And I have to wonder, were they waiting for their President?
I found Jeffery and Brian by the white tent and we headed home. Now three days later, I have no doubt that God placed us strategically to serve as witnesses on the right, left, and middle. We all agree, the crowd had been peaceful until attacked. And as I have said, I have video that proves it, very clearly proves it. And even when attacked, our first response was to hold our ground. And even when we fought back and won, we did not advance except to occupy the bleachers. And that proves what kind of crowd we were, to be attacked without provocation, and to not seek revenge. We only wanted the right to be there as granted in The Constitution.
This is my account, entirely truthful and heartfelt. I believe God put me there to bear witness. And so I tell of the Miracle on Constitution Avenue. And yes, there was a real miracle. It occurred at the height of the fight. We were being pummeled with gas bombs, rubber bullets, and percussion grenades. We were crouching way low, nearly on our hands and knees, moving towards the danger. We were doing what Americans do. Americans of every color, huddled together, lifting their voices higher than any church house will ever know, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” A thousand voices lifted to Heaven in a hail of rubber bullets, explosions, and gas. I looked to the ground around our feet. It was littered with rubber bullets like so many marbles strewn about. And yes, they were only rubber bullets but they still hurt like heck. And in that moment, in that great crowd of Christians, armed only with their voices, advancing into smoke and fire while reciting the Lord’s prayer…it was the turning of the tide, and it changed me forever. That, is what really happened, not with the handful, but with the throng. I saw it with my own eyes. So please my forgotten brothers and sisters, trust in the One that will never forget you. The One that gave you your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And remember the, Miracle on Constitution Avenue.
James Sheldon
Notes (from 2/25/2022, with editing to the present):
The event of Jan 6 saw an unforeseen series of human errors on both sides. Unfortunately, both sides are so afraid of losing power to the other that neither is willing to accept responsibility. This fear of losing power is where the truth dies and the lies begin. It happens like this. The FBI field agents can be thorough and professional in their collection of information regarding the event, but when the people at the top in Washington DC are caught in a struggle for power, they will not use that information to get to the truth but instead they will use it to further their narrative. Otherwise they might lose power, they might lose their job, they might lose their livelihood, they might end up at the mercy of their enemies, they might even end up in jail.
The political left focused on a tiny percentage of Jan 6 Patriots to portray all Jan 6 Patriots as terrorist. What they did was the equivalent of walking into an apple orchard, finding a few rotten apples, and then using them to portray the entire orchard as bad. In doing so, they proved that they are not after the truth. They are after power. The political right is also in this power struggle. And when it's power at stake instead of truth, both sides lie, and Justice gets pushed to the sidelines.
Correction note: When I first wrote my account of Jan 6, I said that the crowd was attacked after video #4. The first shot was fired at the end of video 4, but the full-on attack came after video #5
I think it is important to know that public video of a peaceful crowd being attacked on Jan 6 must exist due to all the security cameras at the Capital. The Capital Police have over 14,000 hours of video footage of the Jan 6th event (source, Google). That video footage is public property. By law, the government has a legal obligation to release it to the public (source, Judicial Watch). Now it’s been over a year and still they refuse to hand it over. Mr. Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch is trying mightily to get the videos though the Freedom of Information Act. The government refuses to release the footage. With so many cameras, I think it a real possibility that they have footage of the miracle I tell of. If so, surely the forces of darkness never want it seen.
When I first wrote my account of Jan 6, I proposed a second possibility for the initial explosion shown in my video #4. I was 90% certain the flash grenade had been fired by law enforcement stationed on balconies with grenade launchers (my video #4 shows them). However, for the sake of fairness I included the small possibility that an agent-provocateur may have set off the explosion. I have since ruled that possibility out. I ruled it out because the explosion sounded identical to the explosions that came after, and I believe the video that is being withheld from the public would prove it was the first round fired in the attack. IMPORTANT EDIT NOTE: In late Aug 2022, I discovered that my video #4 of the Jan 6th event shows not only the flash of the first explosion but the bits and pieces of the flash-grenade flying into the crowd (see my video #4). Beyond doubt, the trajectory and path of the debris indicate that the first shot was fired by law-enforcement. Most likely, the grenade was fired by law enforcement on the balconies above. They had grenade launchers in hand. Perhaps the grenade was fired at someone doing something they shouldn’t do? I didn’t see any wrong-doing and I was right there but I want to remain fair and cover all possibilities.
As someone that was there, I do not believe the Jan 6 conspiracy theory that claims the FBI setup and entrapped Patriots by infiltrating the crowd with undercover agents whose job was to incite violence. However, it could be possible that people with connections to the FBI acted independently without the agency's knowledge or approval. EDIT NOTE, 1/7/2024: After watching
the Tucker Carlson interview of U.S. Congressman Clay Higgens on Jan 6, 2024,
It appears the FBI may have been running some ongoing sting operations that
culminated on J6. And those operations may have entailed entrapment. That would
be bad. It does not mean however that we J6ers are to now deny any
responsibility for wrongdoing at the Capital that day because, if we go down a
path of total denial of responsibility, of no accountability, then we would
become the very thing we came to protest.
Please know that I am not employed by or affiliated with the FBI or any government agency in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a tax paying citizen. I’m an Independent voter. I want the truth. And I believe it is important that we Patriots take responsibility for our own bad actors.
Edit 11/7/23: My video #4 shows the crowd and in it a man wearing a pair of swimming goggles. A study of this video shows that the man does not fit in. He may be a federal asset and that is okay by me. He might be something else, perhaps an undercover news reporter. In any case, the more I look at the video, the less he appears part of the crowd. Edit 1/6/2024: Today I learned he is wanted for punching a police officer. If this is true, I am sorry to hear it. Anger was justified on that day but, violence and destructive behavior was the wrong way of showing it.
The FBI questioned me a few days after Jan 6. But that had a silver lining because I was then able to post my videos on YouTube with the factual claim that the videos were there for the FBI. In such a way, YouTube did not take my videos down. I deleted the videos from YouTube on 5/14/2024. Videos will hence appear at the bottom of this webpage, or, on X (formally known as Twitter).
Months after the event, I learned that, after the grandstands were secured by our side, someone from inside the Capital opened a west-facing door and three-hundred Patriots from our side entered the building. To the best of my knowledge, video footage shows that they did not engage in destructive behavior and in fact they never even crossed the roped off lines in the Rotunda.
On Jan 6, as we left Washington DC in our car, I posted my most conclusive video on Facebook (video #4). It quickly had over 3,000 views. Facebook deleted it and put me in Facebook jail. I had never been in Facebook jail before. In fact, I haven’t had so much as a parking ticket for over 35 years. In fact, well before Jan 6th, Jeffery, myself, and two other friends started a Support-the-Blue group back home in Kansas. We held meetings in which law enforcement officers came and spoke, so that we might know how best to support them.
SUMMARY (Feb 26, 2023)
The public video footage has been PARTIALLY released and it shows what I have said above. The crowd was peaceful on the west side of the Capital building. We were attacked without provocation. And when we were attacked, we only sought to hold our ground. But we were repeatedly shot with rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and some kind of tear-gas. We did not deserve to be attacked. We did not deserve to be run off like vermin. We were and still are American Citizens. We do not deserve to be called, “Insurrectionist.” We do not deserve to be called, “Terrorist.” We were not the attackers, we were attacked! We have been betrayed by the news media, and worst of all, by our so-called representatives in Congress who in a rare show of unity, hurried to condemn us. We were also betrayed by bad-actors in our own ranks. They assaulted police officers and broke windows. They disobeyed our Commander in Chief. They were very few but, they gave enormous opportunity to those that hate us. And in doing so, they derailed our cause. And today, their claims to be victims and heroes tells me they would derail us all over again if given the chance. Our Nation needs a way back from this edge. I once heard a pastor at a pulpit say, "We are all wonderful, and we are all pathetic." And I was just old enough to think, "Brother, ain't that the truth!"
I traveled 5,000 miles through America by horse, foot, and canoe, and I saw so much good, it could not be measured. The experience inspired me to write a small booklet, AMERICAS FAITH FRONTIER. It is full of hope and, it's 100% free:
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