As the United States approaches the fifth anniversary of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, a congressionally mandated plaque honoring the police officers who defended the building remains conspicuously absent from public view. Despite legal requirements for its display, the bronze memorial is believed to be in storage, its whereabouts officially unknown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who himself challenged the 2020 election results, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice under the Trump administration is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by police officers who want the memorial displayed as intended.

Determined to preserve this critical moment in American history, approximately 100 members of Congress, primarily Democrats, have taken matters into their own hands by mounting poster board replicas of the plaque outside their office doors. These makeshift memorials read: “On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

The original plaque was designed to be a permanent marker situated near the Capitol’s west front, where some of the most violent confrontations occurred as rioters breached the building. Its absence has created what some see as a culture of forgetting, allowing visitors to pass through the Capitol without any official reminder of what happened that day.

“The question of January 6 remains – democracy was on the guillotine — how important is that event in the overall sweep of 21st century U.S. history,” said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and noted scholar. “Will January 6 be seen as the seminal moment when democracy was in peril? Or will it be remembered as kind of a weird one-off? There’s not as much consensus on that as one would have thought on the fifth anniversary.”

The historical narrative surrounding January 6 has shifted dramatically over the past five years. What Senate Republican leadership initially declared an “insurrection” has been reframed by former President Trump as a “day of love.” He later pardoned all 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack within hours of returning to office in January 2025.

At least five people died during the riot and its aftermath, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police while attempting to climb through a window toward the House chamber. More than 140 law enforcement officers were wounded, some gravely, and several died later, some by suicide.

Unlike the twin light beams commemorating the September 11 attacks or the stand-alone chairs at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, the absence of recognition for January 6 has left a void in the nation’s collective memory and healing process.

The plaque was approved by lawmakers in March 2022 as part of a broader government funding package. The resolution stated that the U.S. “owes its deepest gratitude to those officers” and set a one-year deadline for installation at the Capitol.

This summer, officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, who fought the mob that day, sued over the delay. “By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history,” their claim stated. “It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them.”

The Justice Department has argued for dismissal, claiming Congress “already has publicly recognized the service of law enforcement personnel” by approving the plaque, and that displaying it wouldn’t alleviate the problems the officers face. The department also noted that the plaque would need to include the names of all 3,600 law enforcement personnel involved in the response.

Meanwhile, partisan divisions over January 6 continue to deepen. Democrats plan to reconvene members from the original January 6 committee for a hearing to “examine ongoing threats to free and fair elections,” while Republicans under Speaker Johnson have tasked Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia with leading their own special committee to uncover what they call the “full truth” of what happened.

“We should stop this silliness of trying to whitewash history — it’s not going to happen,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., who helped lead the effort to display the replica plaques. “I was here that day so I’ll never forget. I think that Americans will not forget what happened.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the original January 6 committee, envisions the Capitol one day conducting tours about the attack. “There are new generations of people who are just growing up now who don’t understand how close we came to losing our democracy on Jan 6, 2021,” Raskin said. “People need to study that as an essential part of American history.”