Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to ridicule over calling herself a “Bronx woman” by claiming she grew up “between” town and the leafy suburbs – however locals close to her childhood residence are nonetheless confused.
Individuals from Yorktown — many who grew up within the Bronx themselves — chimed in on the liberal firebrand's narrative about her youth after her yearbook images recirculated on social media and AOC fundraised off the criticisms however nonetheless prevented saying she lived in higher Westchester County.
“You'll be able to inform proper out of the gate she isn't from the Bronx. Take heed to her!” insisted retired FDNY firefighter Billy, a 47-year-old with a Bronx accent who now lives within the close by city of Valhalla.
“Take heed to us!” stated Billy, who was {golfing} with a fellow Boogie Down native at Mohansic Golf Course in Yorktown one latest morning. “We've been out of the Bronx for years however we nonetheless sound like idiots! It doesn't simply go away. She doesn't have that in the best way she talks.”
Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows and drew warmth when she once more labeled herself a “Bronx woman” throughout a spat with President Trump, a Queens native, late final month.
Whereas she was born within the Bronx, she moved as much as Yorktown as a tot along with her household, attending Yorktown public faculties by highschool. She was listed as a resident of her dad and mom' residence within the suburb when her childhood residence was offered for $355,000 in 2016 — two years earlier than her election to Congress, based on land records cited by lohud.com.
Richard Kennedy, who works on the Uncle Giuseppe's grocery store on the town, stated he thinks the 35-year-old lawmaker's quick keep within the metropolis earlier than transferring to Yorktown “doesn't even qualify” her as a Bronx woman.
“For those who got here right here while you had been 3-years outdated, you're from right here,” Kennedy bluntly stated.
One other native known as Ocasio-Cortez a “phony.”
“You assume she'd be pleased with being from Yorktown,” stated a lady who didn't wish to be named. “It's an incredible city.”
“I don't get why you wouldn't wish to say you're from right here,” added 31-year-old Sandra Guarriello, who owns a salon on the town along with her husband.
“We dreamed of residing right here. It took us a very long time and plenty of arduous work and now we reside right here. It's been our dream to reside right here.”
However some, together with Guarriello's husband, got here to the protection of the distinguished pol and understood why her coronary heart was at all times near the Bronx.
“I used to be born in Yonkers and my grandmother raised me however I'd say I used to be raised within the Bronx trigger my household all lives there,” Nicholas Guarriello, 33, stated.
“However I don't inform folks to push some narrative. I say I'm from the Bronx trigger my household is from 187th avenue.”
Sabrina Gomes, 33, was born within the Bronx however raised above the borough and also can relate to AOC.
“Perhaps that felt extra like residence to her than this place,” Gomes stated. “I additionally say I'm from the Bronx however I lived right here for 30-plus years.”
Peter Cleary, the Yorktown Democratic Committee co-chair, known as your complete controversy “sort of foolish” and insisted many individuals on the town are “pleased with her.”
Ocasio-Cortez leaned into the controversy Thursday when she despatched out a fundraising electronic mail concerning the matter.
“I'm pleased with how I grew up and discuss it on a regular basis! My mother cleaned homes and I helped. We cleaned tutors' houses in change for SAT prep,” she stated.
“Rising up between The Bronx and Yorktown deeply formed my views of inequality and it's a giant purpose I imagine the issues I do as we speak!”
After she first received a Democratic Occasion main for Congress in 2018, she caught warmth for pushing her Bronx story in her marketing campaign profile, which said on the time “a lot of her life was outlined by the 40-minute commute between college and her household within the Bronx.”
Her marketing campaign wiped the “commute” line and tweaked the bio to say, “She ended up attending public college in Yorktown, 40 minutes north of her birthplace,” based on a lohud.com report at the time.
However some Bronx residents made it clear AOC wasn't a real Bronx woman.
“It needs to be a criminal offense to say you from the Bronx while you're not,” stated lifelong Bronx resident Sandra S., 29, final week.
Brittney M., 26, stated she feels sorry Ocasio-Cortez isn't a real Bronx woman.
“Truthfully, I believe folks solely realized as a result of she introduced it up so many instances,” she stated. “Perhaps she actually believed she was from the Bronx the extra she spoke about it.”
Extra reporting by Josh Christenson
