Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she was told that trauma victims should “tell their stories” as a part of their healing. And that is what she did Monday night in the most compelling, heartbreaking and infuriating 60 minutes available on any screen, at any time this week. The New York congresswoman initiated a live stream on Instagram and, against a plain white wall and with little fanfare, recounted what had happened to her during the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
She talked about flattening herself behind her bathroom door as someone entered her office, screaming, “Where is she? Where is she?” It turned out to be a police officer, but until she learned that, “I thought I was going to die.”
She talked about eventually escaping to the office of Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.), where the two Democratic congresswomen rifled through staffers’ gym bags, searching for sneakers they could change into in case they needed to jump out a window or run. About how they debated what to do if they had to flee again, wondering: “Are some offices safer than others, because they have white-sounding names or male-sounding names?” Continue reading.