{"id":1143,"date":"2020-08-06T04:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T04:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2025-09-29T13:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:57:08","slug":"aoc-on-saint-damien-of-molokai-example-of-white-supremacist-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=1143","title":{"rendered":"AOC on Saint Damien of Molokai: “Example of White Supremacist Culture”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Right. According to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).  Read what she said<\/a>. You can’t make this up. Damien of Molokai<\/a>, the Belgian priest who ministered to lepers in Hawaii, and eventually died of leprosy. Considered a hero by Hawaiians. Canonized by the Catholic Church.  Here he is being a white supremacist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s a press release from the Catholic League – says it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic League president Bill Donohue wrote <\/span>the following letter to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) today<\/a>:<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
August 3, 2020<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Hon. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
229 Cannon HOB<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Washington, D.C. 20515<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dear Rep. Ocasio-Cortez:<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Without provocation, you recently exploded in a fit of rage when you condemned Father Damien, the 19th century priest who gave his life to serving lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Referring to a statue of him in the U.S. Capitol, you said, “This is what patriarchy and white supremacist culture looks like!”<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Your remarks evince an offensive ethnocentrism. You disrespected the people of Hawaii: It is they who hold Father Damien in high regard. You should be careful not to judge a people’s culture and history through your own provincial lens.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Here is what the Britannica Online Encyclopedia says about Father Damien.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“Damien, known for his compassion, provided spiritual, physical, and emotional comfort to those suffering from the debilitating and incurable disease. He served as both pastor and physician to the [leper] colony and undertook many projects to better the conditions there. He improved water and food supplies and housing and founded two orphanages, receiving help from other priests for only 6 of his 16 years on Molokai.”<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Even after Father Damien learned that he had contracted leprosy, he continued his charitable work. He died in 1889.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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You expressed anger at the failure of the U.S. Capitol not to recognize a contemporary of Father Damien, Queen Liliuokalani. It is obvious that you know no more about the queen than the priest.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Queen Liliuokalani adored Father Damien, heralding his yeoman work. Indeed, she made the “white supremacist” a knight commander of the Royal Order of Kal\u0101kaua for his legendary work with lepers. In fact, as a public tribute to his efforts, she convinced government officials to build a hospital for lepers.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Your appalling ethnocentrism makes it impossible for you to appreciate why Father Damien is regarded as a hero by Hawaiians. That is why they made sure to have three statues of him: one in front of the State Capitol in downtown Honolulu; one in front of St. Joseph’s Church in Molokai; and one in National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
You need to apologize to the people of Hawaii for disrespecting their history and culture. You also need to apologize to Catholics for demonizing Father Damien (it matters not a whit that you identify as a   Catholic\u2014you have offended Catholics and that is all that counts).<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
Sincerely,<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
William A. Donohue, Ph.D.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
President<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
AOC; and Damien shortly before his death at the age of 49 in 1889. You can see the effect of his leprosy (Hansen’s disease) in his hand. <\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 <\/div>\n\n\n\n
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right. According to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).  Read what she said. You can’t make this up. Damien of Molokai, the Belgian priest who ministered to lepers in Hawaii, and eventually died of leprosy. Considered a hero by Hawaiians. Canonized by the Catholic Church.  Here he is being a white supremacist. Here’s a press release from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12852,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/12852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}