Ocasio-Cortez: Sharing Our Stories of Capitol Attack ‘Really Important Part to Healing’

Friday on CBS’s “This Morning,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) discussed her account of a “near-death” experience during the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January. Her account has been challenged in part because her office is in another location that the people who breached the Capitol reportedly never entered.

Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that for “survivors of trauma,” sharing your story is a “really important part to healing.”

“I think one of the things that we’ve learned, especially in counseling services offered to House members, is that telling our stories and retelling it especially right after the events transpired is a really important part to healing and getting through it,” Ocasio-Cortez outlined. “And so once we tell that story — and this applies to survivors of trauma all over the country — telling that story as many times as possible and giving that account, allowing yourself to move through that emotion, allowing yourself to revisit that fear and process it and then move past it is important. But yeah, there are lots of emotions. There’s fear; there’s anger at folks who attacked our nation’s Capitol. There’s frustration that this could have happened. But then there’s also determination for us to never allow this to happen again.”

The freshman lawmaker from New York also commented on those challenging her version of what happened on Jan. 6. She said her account is “accurate,” and the doubt from others is partly why she waited to tell her story.

“It’s, unfortunately, kind of the spring to deny and to politicize our accounts with something that I sat with,” she declared. “And it was a big reason why, you know, on top of making sure that we could clear our story due to security concerns, there’s a reason why I sat on my story, as well. You know, so many survivors fear being publicly doubted. But the fact of the matter is that the account is accurate. And, you know, when it comes to minimizing the experiences of survivors, that is extremely damaging, as well.”

“[S]o many survivors across the country don’t get the help that they need because they internalize people saying that, you know, that their trauma isn’t big enough to get help,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent