Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: St. Damien Statue in U.S. Capitol is "White Supremacist Culture"

Please pray for all government leaders!

U.S Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as Democratic Socialist “AOC,” posted a video saying she considers the U.S. Capitol’s statue of St. Damien of Molokai a form of white supremacy.

Fr. Damien dedicated 16 years serving lepers quarantined on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Moloka’i in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

He cared for the lepers, helped lead the building of churches, houses, roads, schools, and hospitals, and eventually died of leprosy during his service. Pope Benedict XVI canonized him in 2009.

Here’s AOC’s video below:

. @AOC calls the statue in the US capitol building of Father Damien, a canonized saint in the Catholic Church, a part of “white supremacist culture.”

Father Damien died of leprosy after spending his life serving others who had the disease. pic.twitter.com/NVnfCN7EVK

— John Gage (@johnrobertgage) July 31, 2020

Click here if you cannot see the post above.

John Gage tweeted the video with the caption, “@AOC calls the statue in the US capitol building of Father Damien, a canonized saint in the Catholic Church, a part of ‘white supremacist culture.’ / Father Damien died of leprosy after spending his life serving others who had the disease.”

Hawaii gifted the Capitol with this statue in 1969.

AOC’s video caption reads, “Even when we select figures to tell the stories of colonized places, it is the colonizers and settlers whose stories are told – and virtually no one else.

“Check out Hawaii’s statue. It is not Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii, the only Queen Regnant of Hawaii, who is immortalized and whose story is told. It is Father Damien.

“This isn’t to litigate each and every individual statue, but to point out the patterns that have emerged among the totality of them in [whom] we are taught to deify in our nation’s Capitol: virtually all men, all white, mostly both.

“This is what patriarchy and white supremacist culture looks like!

“It’s not radical or crazy to understand the influence white supremacist culture has historically had on our overall culture and how it impacts the present day.”

Here’s Bishop Robert Barron’s responses:

In defense of St. Damien of Molokai: Part 2 pic.twitter.com/YYIFZU2DV4

— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 31, 2020

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Here’s a photo of Fr. Damien with the Hawaiian natives:

Father Damien with the Kalawao Girls Choir, at Kalaupapa, Moloka’i, circa 1878.Henry L. Chase / Public domain

Let us ask St. Damien to pray for all United States leaders.

Here’s AOC’s video below:

Hawaii gifted the Capitol with this statue in 1969.

Here’s Bishop Robert Barron’s responses:

Here’s a photo of Fr. Damien with the Hawaiian natives:

St. Damien, please pray for us!