Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed patriarchal beliefs and predatory conduct against minorities as she lashed out at the forces she claimed were responsible for the Uvalde atrocity.
She urged viewers to check in on the males in their life in a scathing 54-minute Instagram video, and she called Congress a “corrupt institution” for failing to do more to address gun violence.
She shared the video a day after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school, killing 19 students and two teachers.
‘It’s critical that we understand what’s at the base of this,’ she added.
‘The vast majority of mass shooters are young men that have a very troubling history with women almost every single time.
‘There is violence against women that immediately predates the you know this violence. This shooter in Texas, shot his own grandmother.
‘We’ve seen a pattern here with this.’
The motive that led Salvador Ramos to open fire in a school is still unknown.
But Ocasio-Cortez attacked a type of toxic masculinity that she said glorified guns and violence.
‘Check on the men in your life,’ she said, ‘Seriously because there’s, it just feels like there’s very few role models and examples of people talking about this in healthy ways.
‘And it’s a big problem because there are a lot of crises.
‘And especially as we try to evolve out of a world that is predatory on women, gay, non-binary and trans-people because traditional regressive, you know patriarchal values, … and uplift men’s identity in relation to other things in relation to like, how women treat them, how much stuff they have.’
Young men, she said, were being radicalized in new ways.
‘But there is such a thing as healthy masculinity that is not rooted in the subjugation of other people,’ she said.
President Joe Biden immediately signaled a fresh push for gun control in the aftermath of the killings.
But Republicans, who can block legislation in the Senate, have already made clear their opposition and several Democratic leaders have all but admitted that the effort will prove fruitless.
Ocasio-Cortez expressed her fury at the inaction.
It’s not just gun violence,’ she said.
‘There’s so many different areas and issues where all of us agree – if not all, an overwhelming amount of us agree. And Congress still can’t get their s*** together.
‘It’s really hard, and it’s super frustrating. And it’s frustrating for you.
‘It’s frustrating for me being a part of this. And I don’t want to be one of those ding dongs that just tells you to vote harder because the solution is a lot bigger than that and it’s going to take a lot more of us and from us to fix this.’
She slammed the power of the National Rifle Association in blocking reform.
And she took aim at Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Synema, centrist members of her own party, for voting down progressive measures.
On Tuesday, Biden said it was time to act. He addressed the nation a little more than an hour after landing back from a trip to South Korea and Japan.
‘I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,’ a clearly emotional Biden said.
But he had a clear message that something had to change.
‘When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?’ he asked.
‘Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?’
But gun violence bills have stalled repeatedly in the face of Republican opposition in the Senate.
The shooting happened days before the National Rifle Association is set to hold its annual meeting in Houston, Texas, where key Republican leaders are due to speak and are likely to lay out their opposition to reform once again.