Teen Who Outed Mum As Capitol Rioter Says She Doesn’t Regret It
The daughter who outed her mother as a Capitol rioter doesn’t regret her decision.
Among the tides of pro-Trump extremists flooding around Washington DC on January 6 was Helena Duke’s mum, who’d earlier warned her teen daughter against attending Black Lives Matter because they could get ‘violent’.
Helena had no idea her mum was present at the Capitol siege until a video circulated online of her being punched in the face. Soon, her affiliation was revealed to the world when Helena went viral.
Check out Helena’s interview below:
The 18-year-old recently spoke to TMZ about finding her mum online, seeing the video and later sharing it. ‘She actually told me that she was going to get a medical procedure done with my aunt… I think she knew what she was doing was wrong, maybe,’ she said.
Helena wouldn’t have known her mum was there if the video of her being punched didn’t do the rounds online.
However, she doesn’t regret outing her. ‘I have gone through a little bit of guilt, but seeing as I really think what they did was horrific… I think it’s almost liberating what I did, because my mum has been very mentally abusive my whole life and this was it kind of going public, how she’s treating me, so I don’t think I have any regrets.’
Helena explained how she believes her mum was radicalised by Donald Trump, especially considering she’d been a Democrat her whole life before his first and only term. Thereafter, she became a ‘radically right’ person, coming up with ‘unsettling’ things and conspiracy theories. She would resist all of Helena’s facts and research.
Talking to Teen Vogue about what made her respond to the video in the first place, she said: ‘Definitely it was the fact that during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, I was told by my mother that I wasn’t allowed to go because she believed BLM was a violent organisation.’
She continued: ‘The fact that she ended up going to [what became a] violent storming of the Capitol, harassing a woman and getting punched in the face, but when I went to peaceful protests, nothing happened to me.’
Helena also offered advice for other young people who may disagree or argue with their parents over politics. ‘I would say, keep your beliefs strong,’ she said.
Helena added: ‘A lot of parents do raise their kids to be strong and independent… when you’re not who they wanted you to be, they take back what they taught you and don’t know how to accept you any longer. It’s very disheartening, but the ability to stay strong and stay true to who you are is insanely important and will carry us. This generation will change the world if we stay this way.’
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