AOC speech denouncing the republican sexist attack in its entirety

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned “an entire power structure against women” by denouncing Republican Congressman Ted Yoho for sexist comments.

In a damning speech on Thursday, Ms. Cortez said she could not accept Yoho’s apology after he called the New York Democrat a “screw up” outside the House of Representatives this week.

Using a point of personal privilege to address Republican comments, he told Congress that Mr. Yoho had “[shown] the world where you can be a powerful man and a hostile woman. “

The speech, which can be seen here, is transcribed in its entirety below:

“Thank you, Madam President. And I would also like to thank many of my colleagues for the opportunity not only to speak today, but also for the many members on both sides of the aisle who have asked me for support after this week’s incident.

“About two days ago, I was climbing the steps of the Capitol when Representative Yoho suddenly turned a corner, and was accompanied by Representative Roger Williams, and approached me on the steps right here in front of our nation’s Capitol. I was taking care of my business, going up the steps, and Rep. Yoho put his finger to my face: he called me ‘disgusting’, he called me ‘crazy’, he called me ‘crazy’, and he called me ‘dangerous’ and then he gave a few further steps, and after I recognized his comments as rude, he walked away and said, ‘Am I rude? Are you calling me rude?

“I took a few steps forward and went in and cast my vote, because my constituents send me here every day to fight for them and to make sure they can keep a roof over their heads, that they can feed their families and that they can lead their lives. with dignity. I went out and there were reporters in front of the Capitol, and in front of the reporters, Representative Yoho called me and I quoted, ‘af ***** gb ****’.

“These were the words that Representative Yoho imposed against a Congresswoman, the Congresswoman who represents not only the 14th District of Congress in New York, but all the congressmen and all the women in this country, because we have all had to deal with this some way, some way, some way, at some point in our lives.

“And I want to make it clear that Representative Yoho’s comments were not deeply hurtful or penetrating to me, because I have worked in a working class job. I have waited for tables in restaurants, I have taken the subway, I have walked the streets of New York City. And this type of language is not new. I found words spoken by Mr. Yoho and men who spoke the same words as Mr. Yoho while he was being harassed in restaurants. I’ve kicked out bar men who have used language like Mr. Yoho’s and have come across this type of harassment in the New York subway. This is not new. And that is the problem.

“Sir. Yoho was not alone. He was walking shoulder to shoulder with Representative Roger Williams. And that’s when we began to see that this problem is not an incident. It is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women, a whole power structure that supports men, because not only have I been spoken to disrespectfully, particularly by members of the Republican party and elected officials in the Republican Party, not only here, but the President from the United States last year told me to ‘come home to another country,’ with the implication that I don’t even belong to the United States. The Governor of Florida, Governor DeSantis, even before I was sworn in, called me. ” whatever is”.

Dehumanizing language is not new. And what we are seeing is that incidents like these are happening in a pattern. This is a pattern of attitude towards women and the dehumanization of others. So even though I didn’t get hurt or deeply offended by the little comments that were made, when I reflected on this, I honestly thought I was just going to pack it up and go home. It’s just another day, right?

“But yesterday, Representative Yoho decided to go to the floor of the House of Representatives and make excuses for his behavior. And he couldn’t let go. I couldn’t allow my nieces, I couldn’t allow the girls I was going home to, I couldn’t allow victims of verbal abuse and, worse, to see that, to see that excuse, and our Congress accept it as legitimate. and accept it as an apology, and accept silence as a form of acceptance. I couldn’t allow that to remain, that’s why I get up today to raise this point of personal privilege.

“And I don’t need Representative Yoho to apologize to me. Clearly, he doesn’t want to. Clearly, when given the chance, he won’t, and I won’t stay awake until late at night waiting for an apology from a man who has no remorse for calling women and using abusive language towards women. But I do have problems using women, our wives and daughters, as shields and excuses for bad behavior.

“Sir. Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters. I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho’s youngest daughter. I am also someone’s daughter. Fortunately, my father is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother could see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect in the floor of this House towards me on television. And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am his daughter and that I was not raised to accept the abuse of the men.

“Now, what I’m here to say is that this damage that Mr. Yoho imposed – he tried to collect – against me was not just an incident directed at me, but when you do that to any woman, what Mr. Yoho did was give other men permission to do that to their daughters. By using that language in front of the press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, the women of his community, and I’m here to get up and saying “that’s not acceptable. I don’t care what your views are. It doesn’t matter how much I disagree, or how much you incense me, or how much I feel that people are dehumanizing others. I won’t do it myself. I won’t allow that people change and create hatred in our hearts.

“And what I think is that having a daughter doesn’t make a man decent. Having a wife is not a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect is a decent man. And when a decent man is wrong, as we are all obligated to do, he does his best and apologizes. Not to save face, not to win a vote: he genuinely apologizes for repairing and acknowledging the damage done so that we can all move forward.

“Finally, what I want to express to Mr. Yoho is gratitude. I want to thank you for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and a hostile woman. You can have daughters and harass women without regrets. You can get married and harass women. You can take photos and project an image to the world of being a family man and harass women without remorse and with a sense of impunity. It happens every day in this country. It happened here on the steps of our nation’s Capitol. It happens when the people who hold the highest office on this earth admit, admit, hurt women and use this language against all of us.

“But once again, I thank my colleagues for joining us today. I will reserve the hour of my time and give way to my colleague, Representative Jayapal from Washington. Thank you.”