An Indigenous man who's being prosecuted for a Mount Rushmore protest believes he's been grossly over-charged ... but the white insurrectionists at the Capitol won't get the same treatment.
Nick Tilsen tells TMZ ... what we all witnessed in Washington D.C. was the "epitome of white supremacy and white privilege in society." He adds that he doesn't expect many of the culprits will be slapped with the same legal consequences he's faced since last summer.
If you don't know ... Nick's the President of NDN Collective, which protested President Trump's July 3 visit to Mt. Rushmore after calling for the national monument to be closed and the land returned to the Lakota people.
Nick was one of 20 Land Defenders arrested and facing criminal charges ... but his are steep. Nick's accused of taking a shield from a National Guard soldier and threatening to use it against the Guard.
He's been charged with second-degree robbery, grand theft in the alternative and 2 counts of simple assault against law enforcement. He could get 16 years in prison if convicted.
In contrast, one notable Capitol rioter -- who's been identified as Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge -- was photographed inside the building Wednesday holding a Capitol Police shield ... seemingly with no qualms about it.
Aaron was later interviewed and claimed he found the shield on the ground. As of now, there's no record of him even getting arrested ... much less charged.
Nick wants to point out ... he's not in favor of people of any race, orientation or religion being met with over-prosecution for expressing their right to protest. In fact, he supports the opposite.
However, Tilsen believes the big difference between what went down on Jan. 6 and his Rushmore incident is one was a riot and one was an organized movement for change. Plus, he thinks most rioters are getting off easy because of their skin color.