Today, newly elected Rep. Cori Bush went to the orientation for members of the 117th Congress. She will be representing Missouri's 1st district, which includes Ferguson and parts of Saint Louis. She's a single mom who got her political start as an activist in 2014 during the Ferguson uprising. Earlier, she had returned to school to get a nursing degree after being homeless. She's pretty amazing if you haven't heard much about her (it's particularly cool to hear her speak during her first run for Congress in 2018 vs. this year, and to see how a candidate can grow into the role without losing what motivates her to run in the first place... check out the video on this page from the 7:22 mark to 7:27 to see the contrast).
Anyway, back to today. Bush was wearing a mask with the name of Breonna Taylor on it for orientation day. Midday, she tweeted this:
It’s Day One, so I’m wearing my “Breonna Taylor” mask.
A few of my Republican colleagues have called me Breonna, assuming that’s my name.
It hurts. But I’m glad they’ll come to know her name and story because of my presence here.
Breonna must be central to our work in Congress.
First, how many times have these Republicans (or any people) seen a person wearing a mask with their own name on it? WTF? If they didn't know who Breonna Taylor was, would it not have been a more intelligent thing to do to ask Who's Breonna? than to assume it's the person wearing the mask?
Second, let's talk about bubbles. Yes, we're all in bubbles to some extent. I'm sure there's some Fox News- or QAnon-famous person I haven't heard of that every right-wing person knows about, and they would be shocked that I don't know who it is. Some poor missing white child, probably. But that is not the same thing. Really, it's not. Breonna Taylor was murdered by agents of the state in her own home and her name has been on national network and cable news, in newspapers, and in social media for more than half a year.
That these ignorant people are elected to Congress and don't know this name and at least the basics of her story is an indictment of them and the people who elected them. But none of us are surprised by that, since they were elected by white supremacy and often gerrymandering in the first place.
Speaking of things new members of Congress don't know, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — who just beat Senator Doug Jones, a former DA who convicted the 1963 Birmingham church bombers — doesn't know:
- What the Voting Rights Act is
- What the three branches of the federal government are (he thinks it's made up of the House, the Senate, and the Executive)
- Why we fought World War II (he thinks his father fought in the war to free Europe from socialism)
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