Reporter, HuffPost
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized Democratic House leadership for not punishing Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) over her repeated Islamophobic statements targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
“It’s embarrassing that there is any hesitation on this,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “How can we have different consequences for different kinds of bigotry or incitement?”
“Incite against a member and you’re stripped. End of story,” the congresswoman added, calling for the Republican to lose her committee assignments.
In November, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was censured in the House and stripped of his committee seats for posting a violent anime video doctored to depict him killing Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.
Later that month, Boebert joked to a crowd about Omar being a suicide bomber, referring to the Muslim lawmaker as the “jihad squad.” And at another event in September, Boebert suggested Omar was a terrorist, saying: “She doesn’t have a backpack, she wasn’t dropping it and running, so we’re good.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has not publicly condemned Boebert for her Islamophobic remarks.
And though Democratic leadership released a statement calling Boebert’s anti-Muslim comments “deeply offensive and concerning,” they have not moved to call a censure vote against Boebert.
“It’s a pretty simple question: does the House accept violent Islamophobia or not?” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “We should feel ashamed every time [Omar] or anyone is forced to defend themselves against threats in their workplace alone [because] the institutions they serve in won’t protect them. It’s messed up.”
It’s embarrassing that there is any hesitation on this. How can we have different consequences for different kinds of bigotry or incitement?
This should be treated equally and consistently. Incite against a member and you’re stripped. End of story. She refuses to even apologize. https://t.co/3QMQZ1R70l
On Monday, Omar hung up on Boebert during a call between the two women after Boebert refused to apologize for targeting Omar with her anti-Muslim remarks.
On Tuesday, Omar held a joint news conference with fellow Muslim lawmakers Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and André Carson (D-Ind.) to condemn Republicans’ inaction.
Omar — who has faced Islamophobic attacks from former President Donald Trump and Republican pundits and has gotten a multitude of death threats — played a voicemail at the news conference, which she received after the video of Boebert’s anti-Muslim remarks was posted online: “There is plenty that would love the opportunity to take you off the face of this fucking earth,” a male voice said, calling Omar a “Muslim piece of shit” and a “jihadist.”
On Thursday, more than three dozen progressive House Democrats called for Boebert to be stripped of her committee assignments.
Reporter, HuffPost