While the country is still reeling from the 2020 presidential election, President Trump’s second impeachment, and the riots in and around the U.S. Capitol Building, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the government needs to take a more active role in the lives of its citizens before “healing is possible.”
During a town hall with her supporters, the New York Democrat said the country does, however, need to take a long hard look at white supremacy and radicalization.
“The white supremacist cause is futile. It’s nihilist,” she said at the event, the Washington Examiner reports. “There are people who are radicalized right now. It’s going to take a very long time to deradicalize these people and a lot of effort.”
There is a solution, though, as she claimed the government just needs to “double, triple, or quadruple the funding” it spends to “deradicalize” white supremacists and other radical groups.
“A lot of people have drank the poison of white supremacy, and that’s what Donald Trump represents,” Ocasio-Cortez claimed, via the report. “Just is, and if, at this point, you haven’t recognized that and you don’t see it, maybe you have a lot of work to do, too.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s also suggested censoring those who share radical ideas or those that could incite violence.
The lawmaker said it was time for the government to “figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can’t just spew disinformation.”
The Washington Examiner adds:
Ocasio-Cortez, who was present on Capitol Hill last week during a riot after a Trump rally that left five people dead, also shared details about the incident with her Instagram followers and said she feared for her life as she hunkered down in the Capitol building.
“I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive.”
— Advertisement — The congresswoman added that she didn’t feel safe taking shelter with her colleagues because several of them are “white supremacist” sympathizers.
“There were QAnon and white supremacist sympathizers and, frankly, white supremacist members of Congress in that extraction point, who I know and who I have felt would disclose my location and would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt, kidnapped, etc.,” Ocasio-Cortez explained. “So, I didn’t even feel safe around other members of Congress.”
Watch her comments below:
AOC: “A lot of people have drank the poison of white supremacy and that’s what Donald Trump represents. Just is. And if at this point you haven’t recognized that and you don’t see it, maybe you have a lot of work to do.” pic.twitter.com/8I0gknCVib
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 13, 2021