About

Capitol Meemaw, also known as Aunt Tifa, is the nickname given to a smiling elderly woman holding an American flag in a viral photograph believed to be taken at the 2021 Storming of the United States Capitol. It was later confirmed that the photo was taken at a peaceful protest in Kansas.

Origin

On January 6th, 2021, @FlockaKnows tweeted,^[1] "This is white privilege in America . Let that sink in" along with a photograph of numerous pro-Trump protestors standing around inside (shown below, left). At the left-hand side of the photograph is an elderly woman with a mask around her neck, smiling wide and holding an American flag. Shortly after, @1BrayWoods quote-tweeted^[2] the post along with a zoomed-in photograph of the woman, writing, "she dont even know where the hell she at" garnering over 186,000 likes and 41,000 retweets in a week (shown below, right). @THEDANIELLOP23 commented^[4] under the post, "SOMEONE GET THERE MEEMAW" garnering over 3,200 likes in the same span of time. As the tweets grew in popularity, more memes about the woman being involved with the protest in D.C. started to spread.

Spread

On the same day, the Kansas-based news network KSNT^[3] reported on the Kansas Red Wave Rally, a peaceful pro-Donald Trump protest taking place inside the Kansas State Capitol Building. One photo in the article features Capitol Meemaw from a profile view, proving the viral photo was not taken in D.C. (shown below).

On January 7th, @jimtews tweeted,^[5] "You’re right. It was Aunt Tifa" along with a photograph of Capitol Meemaw, garnering over 192,000 likes and 21,000 shares in 6 days (shown below, left). On the same day, @mentalmillness tweeted,^[6] "ok who left meemaw at the capitol" along with the photograph (shown below, right).

On January 8th, @RebeccalErwin posted a painting of Capitol Meemaw to Twitter^[7] (shown below, left). On January 9th, @emiisntfunny tweeted,^[8] "rare pic of meemaw breaking into the capitol (colorized 2021)" along with a photo of an old woman climbing a gated door (shown below, right).

On January 12th, BuzzFeed News^[9] published a story titled, "We Tracked Down "Capitol Meemaw" -- Who Was Not Actually At The US Capitol." The article features an interview with Capitol Meemaw, where she sets the record straight by confirming that she was not at the Capitol, but that she was at the Kansas State Capitol Building to pray with the peaceful protestors there.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References