“We are living in terrifying times, but we are people of faith,” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told members of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta last Sunday.
The New York Democrat made a surprise appearance May 10 at the historic church, currently led by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. At Warnock’s invitation, Ocasio-Cortez came from the pews to give a brief message to the congregation. She was raised Catholic and has spoken often of the faith influence on her work for justice.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“Our faith is the foundation that gives us the courage to fight in the face of overwhelming odds. Like Deborah, who rose as a judge in a time of cruel kings and said, ‘I will go.’ Like Daniel, who stood firm in the court of a blasphemous king and declared there is a God in heaven. And like Dr. King — baptized in this church on this hallowed ground — who believed in the audacious idea that maybe this country could maybe live up to the promises we made in our founding documents.
“I’m here today, brothers and sisters, with a simple message: We stand together and we are not going back.”
She spoke just days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the remaining parts of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door for state legislatures to gerrymander with impunity.
“I don’t take lightly where we’re standing and sitting here today, and I know how meaningful it is to be invited to be in community together,” she told the church. “And I don’t take lightly the peril we are facing just one week after the Voting Rights Act was gutted. In the days since, we have learned why the Voting Rights Act existed.”
She cited immediate efforts by Republicans in Tennessee and Louisiana to redraw congressional maps “to literally draw Black Americans out of power.”
People of faith in all states should be alarmed, she warned. “What happens to New York happens to California. What happens to Louisiana happens to all of us … because this is America. We are not divided by state. We are united by our humanity and common citizenship, because no man can grant us our humanity, no law can erase it, no king, no system and no president can strip it away … because it is not given by man; it is ordained by God.”
Ocasio-Cortez was warmly received by the congregation, with extended applause at several points.