Watch AOC step up to remind the House of Charlie Kirk's bigotry

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, shown in 2021.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York delivered a dire warning Friday about the damage of whitewashing the bigotry of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered last week.

Her speech came on the same day the House passed a GOP-backed resolution to honor Kirk as a “courageous American patriot.”

“We can deeply disagree and come together as a country to denounce the horror of this killing, and it is not a license for the abuse of power and whitewashing of American history,” she said. “Today's resolution only underscores the majority's recklessness.” 

“We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “A man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the right to vote was a mistake. Who, after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, claimed that 'some amazing patriot' should bail out his brutal assailant, and accused Jews of controlling 'not just the colleges. It's the nonprofits, it's the movies. It's Hollywood. It's all of it.'”

“His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans—far from the ‘working tirelessly to promote unity’ [that is] asserted by the majority in this resolution," she added.

The resolution was largely condemned by Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, who voted present. 

“I cannot vote yes on this resolution because it grossly misrepresents Charlie Kirk’s methods, views, and beliefs while citing Christian nationalist language,” she said in a statement. “I will always condemn heinous acts of violence, but this resolution ignores the false and hateful rhetoric that was too often present in his debates.”

As President Donald Trump’s direction, the Republican Party has exploited Kirk’s killing to launch a fresh attack on the First Amendment, using it to silence criticism and dissent by falsely equating those with calls to violence.