Social media reacts to viral video of 'Elizabeth from Knoxville', who illegally breached U.S. Capitol

A woman who identified herself as Elizabeth from Knoxville is going viral online after illegally storming the Capitol on Wednesday.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting a peaceful transfer of power, forcing lawmakers to be rushed from the building.

As Congress works to certify President-Elect Joe Biden's election win, one woman who identified herself only as "Elizabeth from Knoxville" is catching the collective ire and mirth of social media.

Footage of Elizabeth claiming she was maced after trying to "storm the capitol" on Wednesday began to go viral on Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok that same night.

As the nation collectively processes the violence that disrupted a peaceful transfer of power on Wednesday, the video of "Elizabeth from Knoxville" has become an impetus for larger conversation online - a way to talk about police brutality, white privilege, and the chaos of the day within one twenty-eight second video.

The video, taken by Yahoo.com reporter Hunter Walker, shows her walking through the crowd with a male companion. Walker stops her to ask what happened.

"I got maced," she says, wiping her eyes with a blue towel. "By the police," the man next to her clarifies.

Walker then asks if she was trying to get into the capitol.

"Yeah! I made it like a foot inside and they pushed me out, and they maced me," she said.

She then tells Walker her name is Elizabeth, and that she is from Knoxville, Tennessee.

When asked by Walker what she was doing there, she is forthright in her response.

Some reactions to the video taken of Elizabeth are mirthful; people poke fun at her apparent shock that she would encounter resistance while trying to, in her own words, "storm the capitol" for a "revolution."

I am trying to take a nap, but I just thought about Elizabeth from Knoxville specifically picking out her piano scarf to wear for the revolution and now I cannot stop thinking about this — alex (@alex_abads) January 6, 2021

Others juxtaposed 'Elizabeth''s shock at her illegal actions against a myriad of oppressive experiences BIPOC endure in the United States, reacting to her situation with disdain.

Look out #Knoxville Elizabeth, trump’s prosecutors just said if you traveled from a state to participate in this, you will be prosecuted. I wonder if that goes for members of the lege too? — Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) January 7, 2021

Must be horrific to go through a great value revolution and get maced I wonder how Breonna Taylor feels about this...oh wait, she was killed for sleeping....Elizabeth stormed into the capital and expected what?? A hug??!! — Duh-Nitra (@__itsNitra) January 6, 2021

Poor Elizabeth, she wasn't ready for the revolution.



"I got maced. I made it like a foot inside and they pushed me out, and they maced me

My name's Elizabeth I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee... we're storming the Capitol, it's a revolution"


•At least she's alive to tell the story pic.twitter.com/oKLZpHE8TN — It'sDelacasa🇲🇿 (@DeLaCaZa) January 6, 2021

The curfew had been imposed after scores of supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the Capitol, halting the constitutional process of voting to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. They were later forcibly removed from the Capitol.

Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office.

Though the efforts to block Biden from being sworn in on Jan. 20 were sure to fail, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails.