After pressure from Ocasio-Cortez and progressives, Democrats released a resolution condemning incidents ranging from the Charleston shooting to anti-Catholic bias against JFK
- Democrats released the new text of their resolution to condemn all forms of hatred on Thursday.
- The resolution is in response to a controversy surrounding anti-Semitic comments made by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
- The revamped resolution condemns more than just anti-Semitism, including examples of bigotry and violence in the United States going back decades.
Democrats unveiled the text of their re-tooled resolution condemning various forms of hatred and bigotry in the wake of another controversy swirling around comments made by freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota accusing allies of Israel of have a "foreign allegiance," which bears similarities to a common anti-Semitic trope.
After senior Democrats crafted and then pulled an initial resolution just condemning anti-Semitism that did not mentioned Omar by name, they released a fresh text on Thursday tackling many more issues.
"Whereas all Americans, including Jews, Muslims, and Christians and people of all faiths and no faith, have a stake in fighting anti-Semitism, as all Americans have a stake in fighting every form of bigotry and hatred against people based on religion, race, or place of birth and origin," the resolution reads.
The resolution goes on to list a series of examples of bigotry and violence toward certain groups, including the 2016 targeted shooting of an African American church in South Carolina, the 2018 mass shooting of Jews at a Pittsburgh Synagogue, backlash against Muslims in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and anti-Catholic bias against former President John F. Kennedy.
The resolution lists dozens of other examples in an attempt to condemn all hatred.
After senior Democrats released the first draft of the resolution focused exclusively on anti-Semitism, liberal groups and voices like freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Congressional Black Caucus, and more pushed back.
Liberals were wary about focusing just on Omar, citing threats that have been made against her. The groups also wondered why more types of bigotry were not similarly addressed. The pushback worked, forcing Democrats to change the resolution in many different ways.
The House is slated to vote on the resolution later on Thursday, putting an end to the back and forth that has enveloped Capitol Hill for most of the week.