AOC at House Hate Crimes Hearing: White Men ‘Are Almost Immune’ from Being Called Domestic Terrorists

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said at a House hearing on white supremacy on Wednesday that Muslims seem to be singled out as domestic terrorists when they commit mass murder but white men who commit crimes are “almost immune” from that label.

Ocasio-Cortez asked the panel of witnesses at the hearing, which included experts on hate crimes, about three domestic terror attacks where the perpetrator embraced radical Islam — the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, California, where the two Muslims who killed 14 people expressed loyalty to jihadism and the Pulse nightclub terror attack, where the terrorist who claimed allegiance to ISIS killed 49 people and injured dozens of others.

But, Ocasio-Cortez said, when a self-described white supremacist killed nine people at a church in South Carolina and a man attacked a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killed 11 people, they were not labeled domestic terrorists.

One of those experts, George Selim, senior vice president for programs with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), responded by saying that whether it is Jews, Muslims, Christians, or Sikhs who are targeted. all mass murders represent terrorism.

Karen Bass meets with Trump at White House to push for LA wildfire relief after months of clashes

Manhattan DA’s office employee charged with sexual abuse after alleged incident on Queens subway

Florida prisoner laughs as judge sentences him to life for killing cellmate with pen: ‘You are amusing’

Florida man’s execution date set for killing 2, including small child

Senate GOP launches all-night vote-a-rama to fund ICE, Border Patrol through end of Trump’s term

Ilhan Omar Rages at Reporter Who Confronted Her About Financial Disclosure: ‘You’re Stupid’

Five things to know about Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner

Judge Slams the Brakes on Democrats’ Virginia Redistricting, Rules Every Vote ‘Ineffective’

Video exposes disrepair lurking beneath Trump Kennedy Center as $257M renovation looms

‘Come On!’: Maury Povich Dismantles Joy Reid’s Absurd Claim That Dems Don’t ‘Play Politics’

Obama’s Shameless Hypocrisy Exposed as He Celebrates Democrats’ Virginia Power Grab

Mexican national convicted of illegally voting in US after false citizenship claims faces removal: DHS

DC pipe bomb suspect pleads not guilty to terrorism and WMD charges

Virginia court declares state’s redistricting vote was unconstitutional in legal win for Republicans

National Gallery of Art receives record $116 million donation for America’s 250th birthday

“I really dug into some of these distinctions — what was labeled as domestic terrorism, what was labeled as a hate crime?” Ocasio-Cortez said. She went on to say:

I could not help but feel and see that attacks committed by Muslim Americans were almost automatically labeled as domestic terrorist incidents yet white supremacist shooting after shooting is not, and I can’t help but come to the conclusion that what’s being labeled as terrorism is almost exclusively coming down to the identity. And it seems as though white men invoking white supremacy and engaging in mass shootings are almost immune from being labeled domestic terrorists in their violence.

Regardless of labels, those who commit mass murder and are not killed in the incident face the full force of the United States justice system, including Dylann Roof, the shooter in the South Carolina attack, who received the death sentence for his crime.