Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reached out to white supremacists at a vigil on Monday night in Brooklyn to honor the victims of mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, asking them to “come back” to their friends and families.

Ocasio-Cortez said:

What I have to say to the young men and increasingly some of the young women in this country that are falling into the grips of white supremacy; that find themselves getting radicalized in a funnel of vitriol towards Latinos, towards immigrant, towards African Americans, towards all people black, towards all people Jewish, towards all people of different faiths. What I have to say to you is come back because there is a mother waiting for you. I know it.

“I know there’s a teacher waiting for you saying what happened to my kid?” Ocasio-Cortez said. “What happened to my friend? And we will always be here and hold space for you to come back.”

“We will love you back,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You are not too far gone.”

The self-avowed democratic socialist said that American society is “isolating,” “creates depression,” and there is a lack of opportunity for people in Texas.

Ocasio-Cortez said “gun violence” is a problem, but also it is about culture.

“So whether it’s from misogyny or whether it’s from racism, you’re not more of a man with a gun,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You’re not more of a man if you are capable of violence. You are not stronger if you tear another life down.”

“We have to make sure we address that in our culture,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Fixing this is about fixing the laws but it’s about addressing our culture.”

Here’s what we have to say to all of America’s men and women falling in the grips of hatred and white supremacy: Come back. It’s not too late. You have neighbors and loved ones waiting, holding space for you.

And we will love you back. ⬇️ https://t.co/f2nCZzwLUy — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2019

“Come back,” Ocasio tweeted when she posted the video of her speech. “It’s not too late.

“You have neighbors and loved ones waiting, holding space for you,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And we will love you back.”

But Ocasio did not express love for President Donald Trump in her remarks at the vigil.

“So I don’t want to hear the question: ‘Is this president racist?’ anymore,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “He is.”

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