PITTSFIELD — On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, residents rallied to call for accountability and marshal voters to preserve democracy.

Speaking to about 20 people gathered on a sleet-soaked Friday in Park Square during a rally hosted by the Four Freedoms Coalition, community leader and youth educator Shirley Edgerton recalled watching as events unfolded on television two years ago. Similar demonstrations took place around the Berkshires, including in North Adams and Williamstown, where a group gathered outside of the First Congregational Church.

She was appalled as she watched fellow Americans, spurred by the actions of then-President Donald Trump, attack the halls of Congress.

The political stage now beset with denial, divisiveness, deceit and a dearth of integrity, she asked the crowd to consider which values they wish to pass along to future generations.

“What do you want for your grandchildren? For the young people you work with? Do you want a community of unity? Or do you want chaos?” she asked. “I vote for community.”

Edgerton and Dennis Powell, the president of the Berkshire county branch of the NAACP, noted the ongoing struggle among republicans on Capitol Hill to elect a speaker of the House of Representatives.

Twenty far-right Republicans have refused to support Kevin McCarthy, which Powell said shows the spirit of Capitol rioters continues, although 15 of them changed their votes Friday, still leaving McCarthy short by five votes.

“The insurrection hasn’t stopped. Look what’s going on in Congress,” Powell told The Eagle. “It’s not a mob outside, it’s 20 monsters inside.”

While watching the events unfold two years ago, he remembers thinking what would have happened if members the mob had been Black, rather than predominantly white Trump supporters.

“If those were Black people outside that Capitol, they’d have never reached the Capitol,” said Powell.

He said Republican leaders sowed the insurrection, but have never been held accountable. State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, echoed Powell.

She called for the preservation of the democratic norms of a peaceful transfer of power — and for those in government who bucked that norm in 2021 to be investigated and held accountable.

“We have to work every day to preserve democracy, democracy is fragile. Democracy is not given to us by God. But rather something that God has given us as an opportunity, and that we have to work for it. And in order to preserve this right, we have to hold each other, and especially our elected officials, to account to get to the truth of what happened,” she said.

“Nobody, nobody is above the law in the United States of America,” Farley-Bouvier added.

For Pittsfield resident Leslie Luppino, the Capitol riot was not only a “wakeup call,” it was a call to action.

“We all need to do our part and be involved. Vote, do whatever it is we need to keep our democracy,” she said.