WHITE LEFT ARISTOCRACY IS UPSET AT OUR PUERTO RICAN SISTER ALEXANDRIA OCASIO CORTEZ? WHY?
I have been part of the left, the Latino left in particular for 40 years. On the protest line, hosting a radio show on WBAI for over a decade, and championing the rights of people of color and poor folks when many on the left accused us of “engaging in identity politics” I am not surprised at the attacks on AOC from some on the white left. A recent article in “Politico” not s friend of the progressive community entitled “AOC breaks with Bernie on how to lead the left.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/new-aoc-divides-the-left-150767 has created a furor among the left punditocracy. Immediately the progressive wing version of political cannibalism designed to demoralize the left took hold with headlines like “AOC Drifts Away from Activist Left and “Has AOC Sold Out Progressives,? ” “AOC Goes Soft,” “ Is AOC Diverging from Bernie Sanders,” and “Sell-Out: Has AOC Been Coopted by the Democratic Establishment.” Commentaries by some on the Intercept, the Young Turks, Humanist Report among others were unfair and not representative. Even some Latinos spurred by their white ventriloquists started parroting this nonsense.
Why am I not surprised? Puerto Ricans have always been a useful appendage of the white progressive left. Not one progressive publication asked any Puerto Ricans from the left what we think because in their closet racism we don't count. White progressives have a blind spot when it comes to the Puerto Rican community. Would they have engaged in these attacks on an African American legislator without taking the political temperature of the Black community? Some white progressives are one issue, one strategy, narrow-minded folks. Not to embolden “Bernie Bros” mythology. If this in their eyes subordinate Latina is not on board 100 percent with their definition of what is needed for social change they are turning on her. Not all of course many in fact did support AOC in her run and should be commended for that. But to go on to highlight stupid gossip like AOC called Nancy Pelosi "Mama Bear" is ridiculous. They argue AOC changed some of her “radical” staff and did not endorse make or break progressive Cori Bush. Yeah and so what? An article citing an establishment Clinton hack like James Carville.
What collective amnesia from the white left. Latinx folks were the only ethnic group along with the young demographic that came out and supported Sanders directly attributed and led by AOC and many other Latinas. Didn’t AOC use a lot of her political capital when she endorsed Sanders and stayed the course when others were hiding, retreating into white privilege or backstabbing him like Elizabeth Warren? Did they forget AOC launched her own PAC to support progressive candidates? Did they forget The Working Families Party did even not endorse AOC when she first ran and won only to take credit for the Latina’s accomplishment later? Sanders has been around for 50 years and has working relationships with many of these establishment democrats and rarely endorses Democrats running against incumbent corporate democrats yet they don't hold Sanders to the same scrutiny? White double standards. When did Sen. Bernie Sanders attack Sen. Chuck Schumer or Speaker Pelosi?
Regrettably some white leftists that “build you up will tear you down in a minute if you don't subscribe to a conception of ideological purity.” Jesse Jackson is 78 years old and still apologizing for one remark referring to New York as “hymie town” despite endorsing our Jewish brother Sanders for President. But when these white progressives run they are not subject to the same purity test on Puerto Rico and Latino issues? That is why many leftists endorsed Cynthia Nixon for Governor of New York ignoring and trivializing the critique by the Puerto Rican community that indicated Nixon didn't give a damn about Puerto Rico while living in the heart of NY once the Puerto Rican mecca? Has anybody seen Nixon in Puerto Rican laden, coronavirus infested New York? Since in this new demographic era we boricuas offer no apologies for supporting our people Gov. Cuomo received 80 percent of the Puerto Rican vote. Dale. For us advocates of democracy and self-determination we don’t need new colonizers in our barrios in New York, Chicago, or Florida nor in Puerto Rico. Live and learn white left.
Yes, all progressive elected officials of every race, ethnicity, or gender should be held accountable and are all subject to the temptations of joining the establishment wing. AOC is no different. But until I see fluctuations in her public policy support of progressive issues I will continue to defend her and give this free Latina leader the right not to subscribe to the "left aristocracy" that wants to tell all the "spics" what and who to believe in. Should AOC drift toward a growing conservatism or realignment I will be the first to criticize her publicly and without reservation. I support ideas not individuals.
Did the left ever ask the Puerto Rican left what we think? Where do our opinions appear in The Intercept, the Young Turks, The Nation (with the exception of Ed Morales). As a progressive I subscribe to many of these publications and social media and the absence of Latinx folks is deafening. But as one who is also an ally of Sanders progressive wing I will not jettison my Latina sister because she didn’t ask the white left’s permission to pursue her own strategy for social change. To my progressive white left friends if you want respect you have to give respect. Until then I embrace my boricua sister who came out of the Puerto Rican political embryo of a colonized and despised people to help lead the call for a new progressive America.
Howard Jordan is a tenured Professor at Hostos Community College, attorney, journalist, and political activist. He can be reached at [email protected] or tweet @journal_jordan
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AOC Responds to Politico Article Saying She Split With Bernie (interesting comment though Moses analogy is strained) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wcivpa2R-8&list=WL&index=6&t=7s