In case you missed it, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently shined an important light on the white supremacy that persists in the halls of the U.S. Capitol Building:
. @AOC calls the statue in the US capitol building of Father Damien, a canonized saint in the Catholic Church, a part of “white supremacist culture.”
Father Damien died of leprosy after spending his life serving others who had the disease. pic.twitter.com/NVnfCN7EVK
— John Gage (@johnrobertgage) July 31, 2020
The nerve of displaying the statue of a dead white male as a symbol of Hawaii!
1. Unsure why you cut the context of the video. Here’s moments prior
2. Read the text of the video you posted: it’s not about litigating an indiv person or statue, but examining that the TOTALITY of all 100+ statues are almost all white & male,incl to rep largely nonwhite places pic.twitter.com/624zJ11jU1
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 31, 2020
Pay attention to the context, you guys. It’s all in the context.
Frankly this isn’t even a hard point to understand, especially for a journalist.
It’s also clear you understood this point well enough to identify the relevant context in the video and deliberately erase it in an effort to stir up controversy.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 31, 2020
Unsurprisingly, not everyone was convinced by AOC’s context:
@AOC. I am Native Hawaiian. I have family who died in the colony on Moloka’i. How dare you, for even a moment, think that Father Damien should not be honored. Do you have any idea of the work he did? The people he helped?
— arrow_belle (@arrow_belle) July 31, 2020
🙏🏼❤️ Hawaii’s hero. A great humanitarian to the Kānaka Maoli. A true man and Saint of Hawai‘i. pic.twitter.com/GxrfN8QYyN
— Nicholas Augusta (@naugusta) July 31, 2020
I was born and raised in Hawaii. St. Damien of Molokai is a hero. He selflessly served those suffering from leprosy, affirming their dignity as human beings. For his part he was humiliated & died from the same disease of those he served with. He did not seek power or supremacy.
— Theo Tigno (@treative) July 31, 2020
The goodness of Father D is legendary. @AOC is showing her ignorance of our country’s history.
— Kathy Garrett ✝️ (@KathyG9729) July 31, 2020
To be fair, ignorance is kind of AOC’s forte.
It may be her most ignorant moment yet, and that is saying a lot for Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
AOC the know-nothing: https://t.co/O0wwDi3Ud8
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) August 1, 2020
The Washington Examiner’s Becket Adams took AOC apart for her latest attempt to stir up a controversy where there really wasn’t one to begin with. Do yourselves a favor and read the whole thing.
In any event, as is so often the case, AOC’s found herself in the position of having to pretend she didn’t actually mean that thing she meant.
Half of AOC’s tweets are attempts to explain why the other half aren’t as dumb as everyone thinks they are.
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) August 3, 2020
That’s her tweets in a nutshell, yeah.
Lots of super bad faith takes out there on social media accusing @AOC of hating on Father Damien. This is the (very good) point she was making. https://t.co/hL91Q8AvP8
— Justin Kollar (@JustinKollar) August 2, 2020
Yep.
At no point did I say Fr. Damien was a bad figure – in fact, I explicitly stated that my observations weren’t about litigating his or any individual statue.
It’s about the fact that a huge supermajority of statues in the Capitol are white men. Barely any women or BIPOC. https://t.co/son0SZ2HVS
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 2, 2020
At no point did she say that Saint Damien of Molokai was a bad figure. She just singled him out as a textbook example of the “white supremacist culture” that makes our society so problematic. Totally different, you guys.
We have 100+ statues and portraits in the Capitol. Almost all of them are of white men.
Every single statue there could be of a canonized saint and that *still* doesn’t change the fact that the erasure of women & BIPOC from American history is a feature of white supremacy.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 2, 2020
Says the woman and person of color who is currently serving (a term we use loosely) in U.S. Congress as part of a squad of other women and people of color.
It is ironic that many claiming to “defend” a saint no one attacked approached this matter w/ such lack of grace or generosity.
Instead of examining for truth, many jumped to irrational conclusions & sprung to cast judgement & condescension w/o engaging the actual idea presented
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 2, 2020
But enough about you, AOC.
You are the poster problem child for lack of grace and generosity. https://t.co/sVBN8cuRXH
— Nathan Wurtzel is a silly name, but it’s mine (@NathanWurtzel) August 3, 2020
No kidding. She basically just described her M.O. when presented with an inconvenient truth.
But that was exactly you did, “jumped to irrational conclusions & spring to cast judgement & condescension w/o engaging the actual idea presented…” You generalized Fr. Damien as a white man who you felt decimated a population. He helped and gave his life serving others.
— kimmie. (@xoKiMMiEEE) August 3, 2020
At the end of the day, Saint Damien will have done more for humanity than AOC ever could.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet.
