NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she plans to go vegetarian for Lent in memory of Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin's son, who lost his life to suicide on New Year's Eve.
"Ok everyone, I need help!" Ocasio-Cortez tweeted to her followers Wednesday, the first day of Lent. "A few weeks ago I told [Raskin] that this year I wanted to adopt a vegetarian diet for Lent in memory of his son Tommy."
Ok everyone, I need help!
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 18, 2021
A few weeks ago I told @RepRaskin that this year I wanted to adopt a vegetarian diet for Lent in memory of his son Tommy.
Jamie said, "Well you'd have to do it the way Tommy would, which means bring people along with you!" ☺️
So, I have 3 requests:
The congresswoman said Raskin told her, "Well you'd have to do it the way Tommy would, which means bring people along with you!"
So Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to ask other people to join her. She told her followers "you can go full 40 days, just veggie Mondays, etc." and don't have to be Catholic to join in.
She also urged people to send her veggie recipes: "I would like to avoid 40 days of Easy Mac."
For those unable to adopt a vegetarian diet, Ocasio-Cortez said they could consider giving to or helping others "in the spirit of Tommy."
Last week, Rep. Raskin led the impeachment prosecution in the Senate of former President Donald Trump. He made headlines with an emotional personal account of the siege.
Raskin's 25-year-old son, Tommy, a law student at Harvard, his father's alma mater, killed himself on New Year's Eve after years of struggles with depression, and was buried the following Tuesday.
Raskin's grown daughter, Tabitha, and his son-in-law, Hank, accompanied him to the Capitol the next day — Wednesday, Jan. 6 — when rioters unleashed their rampage.
Raskin recalled how the pair wondered if going with him would be safe given Trump had exhorted his supporters to come to Washington for a "Stop the Steal" rally. Of course they'd be safe, Raskin remembered responding, because "this is the Capitol."
When the mob eventually breached the building, Raskin said his daughter and son-in-law were locked in a nearby office, hiding under a desk "placing what they thought were their final texts and whispered phone calls."
"They thought they were going to die," he said.
When it was over and the family reunited, Raskin said he promised his daughter that "it would not be like this again the next time she went to the Capitol" only to have her say she had no interest in coming back.
"She said, 'Dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol,'" Raskin said at the trial. "Of all the terrible, brutal things I saw and I heard on that day and since then, that one hit me the hardest."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
