Gen Z Highlight: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; more commonly known as AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019.
Growing up, Alexandria learned and understood income inequality. Alexandria was born in the Bronx to working-class parents. Her father owned a small business and her mother cleaned homes. Everyone else in the family helped out in their family business. Due to Alexandria's childhood circumstances, she grew up understanding that the area in which a child is born affects their life tremendously as her parents sent her to a public school 40 minutes away from where she lived due to the condition of her area’s public schools. Alexandria attended the University of Boston after high school and graduated with degrees in Economics and International Affairs. She also had the opportunity to work in the office of the late Senator Ted Kennedy during this time. Her work in the office of Senator Kennedy gave a first-hand account of the heartbreak families suffered after ICE split them. Tragedy struck during the 2008 financial crisis when her father, Sergio Ocasio-Roman, passed away, requiring her family to sell their home in Westchester. Around this time, Alexandria ended up working extra shifts to work as a waitress and bartender to support her family, deepening her commitment to issues impacting working-class people.
On AOC’s campaign page, there is a quotation explaining how her aunt and uncle were explaining how they heard Malcolm X evangelizing on street corners. Alexandria further explains how it's a rarity, those institutional memories are a rarity, because New York has changed a lot over the years for better and for worse. She states, “...This city is becoming too inaccessible and too unaffordable for normal people to live in anymore. My family is three generations deep in The Bronx, and my own mother can’t afford to live in the same city…”
Her experiences with New York’s rising income inequality motivated Ocasio Cortez to organize and run for office on a progressive platform. AOC was sworn into Congress in January 2019 and continues to remain committed and passionate about working-class people over corporate interests and advocating for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Among those issues, she advocates a progressive platform that includes Medicare for All, a federal jobs guarantee, the Green New Deal, and abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to her campaign’s website, within just her first term of serving the Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has accomplished numerous successes. Ocasio-Cortez won billions of dollars for NY-14 Families. The money was federal funding to the district for important priorities, like education, small business support, healthcare, affordable housing, transportation, retirement security, and fighting opioid addiction. AOC, along with other congresswomen, activists, and organizers pressured pharmaceutical CEOs into lowering prescription drug costs. She has consistently fought for immigrant families as she has voiced out the urgency to end the “Muslim Ban” and family separation. She has even traveled to the border to expose the devastating conditions inside detention facilities. Ocasio-Cortez also fights for climate change; she’s the one who introduced the Green New Deal Resolution. AOC also secured federal funding for Puerto Rico to issue an environmental clean-up. AOC has accomplished much more including Covid-19 relief efforts, organizing census outreach efforts, and serving our constituents.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is evidently an influential, empowering leader. Her incredible work has allowed her to be a huge influence on our generation. She continues to influence us with her determination to fight for what’s right. Ocasio-Cortez’s past experiences and ability to relate to the working-class directly not only enhances her influence over Gen Z but also shows us the urgency in her fight against income inequality and numerous other issues. AOC has, no doubt, shown us that with hard work, perseverance, and determination, anyone can inspire and improve the lives of those who need it.
Citations
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez
