I think often about those images being recirculated. I understand that they often provoke action — I don’t think we’d see people in the street if we had not seen George Floyd under that man’s knee. But what damage does it do to us to continually see this “murder porn”?
I’ve been guilty myself of watching those things on repeat. And I think you’re trying to reconcile something, or — here’s the thing, to be black in America is to have your pain delegitimized. Black pain has been delegitimized since the inception of this country. And we see that embedded across every issue. Where it might be more obvious is in police brutality and in our health care system. And that’s why there has not been justice. We have had people that are sworn to protect and to serve operating with reckless impunity. And because of statutes like qualified immunity, which I have introduced a bill with Rep. [Justin] Amash to end, there is no consequence. There is no justice. If we can, through lawmaking, codify hate, hurt, and harm and foist it onto black folks with great precision, then we can be precise in the work of healing and justice in our lawmaking and in our budgets.
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You came forward in January to talk about living with alopecia. How have you seen that revelation impact your constituents?
I’ve been embraced by the people that I represent. I won’t pretend that it’s easy all the time, because to be a black woman, to be a black woman in Congress, and to also be navigating the world bald, makes many people uncomfortable, and they are often vitriolic and hateful in their response. But representation is a powerful thing. And so when I’m tempted to shrink in a corner, because I’m still coming to grips with this, I think about all of the men, women, and children living with alopecia who have contacted me just to tell me what it means to them, to turn on the television or to open a newspaper and to see themselves reflected back. And so I’m going to continue to stand firm in it.
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passed a critical housing justice amendment in the House
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Women in the United States House of Representatives
-- NY-14 1990-1993, NY-13 1993-1997
where’s the apology" / Twitter
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on Twitter: "@AOC @rosadelauro The GOP had 25 women in the House in 2006. That's now down to 13." / Twitter
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