The federal government needs to finance the deprogramming of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, said MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night.
“The cause of white supremacy is futile, it is nihilistic,” said AOC, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, during a virtual city hall meeting on Friday night.
“Their world will never exist. That’s why we’re seeing violence now, ”she said, speaking after the violent siege of the US Capitol by radical supporters of President Trump.
“We have to put these pieces together.”
Ocasio-Cortez said the Chamber’s civil rights subcommittee in which it operates held hearings over the past two years on white supremacy and said there were programs to “de-radicalize” brainwashed supporters.
But she said funding was not a priority for these programs during Trump’s years.
“There are people who are radicalized now. It will take a long time to de-radicalize these people and a lot of effort, ”she said.
“This is a problem that will not go away on January 20,” said the congresswoman, referring to the moment when Trump leaves the White House and is succeeded by President-elect Joe Biden.
She said that many peripheral radicals operate in a “bubble of disinformation” and that it will take more than one conversation to deprogram them, comparing it to therapy.
But, she said, research has shown that “a cure is possible”.
“We need to double, triple or quadruple the funding for these programs,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
AOC said there is a spectrum of radicalization that ranges from sympathizers to conspiracy theorists and neo-Nazis. This radical ideology can lead to domestic violence and terrorism.
She said the conspiracy theory wrongly pushed by Trump that the election was stolen from him radicalized his supporters who invaded the Capitol last week, leading to the violence and death of five people. AOC said he felt his life was threatened.