We need to talk about Darializa...
She cannot be a member of Congress.
Adriano Espaillat has called for ICE to be dismantled.
Did you know that?
He’s been one of our strongest fighters against ICE since Trump returned to office, as chair of the Hispanic Caucus and a member of the Progressive Caucus.
He has conducted oversight at facilities around the country, most recently Delaney Hall. He has demanded an end to child detention.
And this isn’t just policy for him, it’s his life. He was the first formerly undocumented member of Congress.
At 9 years old his family came here from the Dominican Republic on an expired tourist visa.
And he became the first 10 years ago.
Most importantly, he supports Ukraine, and didn’t attend a rally the day after Oct 7, before Bibi sent the IDF into Gaza, which celebrated the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis. Who, for the record, were mostly peace activists fighting for a free Palestine.
Espaillat isn’t perfect, but Darializa Avila Chevalier is worse by every metric and I’m pretty terrified she’s gonna win tomorrow.
I’m sure there are a lot of other reasons she’s not qualified, but let’s look at these two.
On Feb 23, 2022, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, she replied to a tweet asking why the US were getting involved in the Russia war with:
Cause the Cold War ended and we’ve been bullying Russia ever since.
That reaction doesn’t sit right with me at all, and is incredibly similar to what RFK Jr. said when he was running for President.
It’s a right wing talking point that NATO is to blame for Russia invading Ukraine. And it’s a big reason why Republicans didn’t and still don’t want to help Ukraine win this war.
So that alone makes me incredibly wary. But there’s more.
On October 7, 2023, 1,200 mostly Jewish people were slaughtered in Israel. Many of those, like Ofir Libstein and Vivian Silver were peace activists explicitly working to support and help Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. Libstein was helping Gaza build infrastructure so they weren’t forced to rely on Israel for utilities. While Silver founded Women Wage Peace, which, along with their sister organization Women of the Sun have been fighting for a free Palestinian through a female centered lens since 2014.
On October 9, 2023, Israel invaded Gaza. But on October 8, the last thing that had happened was 1,200 mostly Jewish peace activists, like the ones I mentioned above, were slaughtered in Israel. And that was the day Chevalier attended the anti-Israel rally in Time Square. This rally EXPLICITLY celebrated the slaughter of these 1,200 Israelis, not to mentioned those who were kidnapped.
Just look at this Oct 11, 2023 post from The People’s Forum, one of the organizers celebrating the turnout of this rally from before the IDF invaded Gaza:
The rally took place a day after Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza initiated an unprecedented liberation struggle, the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” in response to accelerating attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and in defiance of Israel’s efforts to ghettoize, besiege, starve, and suffocate the people of Gaza into total submission.
“Al-Aqsa Flood” is Hamas’ word for the Oct 7 slaughter. That’s not an opinion, that’s not a misrepresentation, that’s just reality.
Again, these kibbutzim that they targeted were EXPLICITLY filled with people fighting for a free Palestine and supporting Gazans. They targeted Israeli peace activists fighting for a free Palestine.
That is what the rally Chevalier attended on was on Oct 8 was celebrating.
And she admits she was there. This isn’t a smear campaign.
But she insists it wasn’t to celebrate the death of anyone:
“I was there at that rally on Oct. 8 because I remembered what happened in 2014. And I knew that the reaction would be an outsized reaction that would cause the death of thousands upon thousands of people.”
I want to believe her, but even if she didn’t know that that’s what it was celebrating on October 8, it became clear in the following days and years. She still hasn’t acknowledged or taken accountability for that.
And that’s not even mentioning the other things she posted on Twitter in the early 2020s.
And when she was asked about her Tweets by VOX last week, she kinda deflected:
I deleted my entire Twitter account many years ago, because I found it was more productive to just be focused on my PHD and my organizing.
I mean that’s valid, but that’s also not taking accountability for the fact that what she said was wrong, harmful and hurtful.
She goes on to say:
I do have regrets on how I expressed my values on Twitter, because my values are around dignity, it’s around accountability, it’s around justice and I think rhetoric matters.
Which I like a lot better, but it still feels a bit dismissive. Cause it’s not just about language and expression. How does the value of justice line up with saying that we are responsible for Russia invading Ukraine?
She’s admitting she was wrong because it looks bad, but it doesn’t feel like she’s taking accountability. And that’s a huge concern to me.
Look, Rep Espaillat leaves a lot to be desired, but that doesn’t mean she’s automatically better. Espaillat’s voice as a formerly undocumented immigrant is invaluable right now. ICE, which he has called to be dismantled, is one of the worst things our government is currently doing and he’s really fighting back on that issue especially.
New is not always better and it’s important to look at each race individually rather than all races together. Of course we want new blood, but this is not the race for it.
I will feel really uneasy is Chevalier wins the primary tomorrow.
And I wish that people like Mayor Mamdani and Brad Lander and Mrs. Rachel and organizations like Indivisible didn’t endorse her just because she’s a member of the DSA.
Everyone came together against Maureen Galindo who lost her congressional primary in Texas. Why is Chevalier getting a pass for similar views? If you live in NY-13, and haven’t voted yet, please think twice before voting for her.
I really hope you read the whole thing and didn’t just skim it, this is incredibly important and nuanced.
Also, you can probably guess that I am probably gonna lose quite a lot of support from this post, so if you have been waiting for the moment to support me, now is that moment.