Respect AOC’s Truth

I will not move on from the insurrection at the White House on Jan. 6. A terror attack that was inspired by Donald Trump and his enablers resulted in the deaths of seven Americans — five on the scene and two police officers by suicide later on — and traumatized the members of Congress. I watched Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s video on Instagram two nights ago, and it really hit me seeing how affected she was. I think about my own PTSD from being deployed twice to Afghanistan and how hard it can be to cope. At the same time, I acknowledge that I willingly joined the military and combat was expected. However, what AOC, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House members experienced was nothing they signed up for. None of them expected to be terrorized by Americans who were inspired by their Republican colleagues. Imagine being in the same place of work with your abuser, a right-wing terrorist who tried to have you killed. That’s what it’s like for them, and what it will be like, until these seditious traitors are held accountable.

I also want to make a point to the people who had the audacity to criticize AOC for bringing up her trauma of being sexually assaulted while talking about the insurrection. How dare you? No one has the right to minimize another person’s trauma experience. Trauma is trauma no matter if it’s sexual assault, a terror attack at Capitol Hill or the combat of war that I experienced. Trauma is all the same. I applaud Congresswoman AOC for speaking her truth. I agree that Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert should all be held accountable, which Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution dictates. We have a chance to start on that next week by finding Trump guilty at his impeachment trial, but we shouldn’t need the words of a traumatized congresswoman to get us to that point.