Ocasio Cortez Upbringing
Ocasio-Cortez also elaborated on her time growing up in the home by saying that it was a good area for working class people and that her mother cleaned toilets to be able to afford living there. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in 1980s. The 1980s was the decade of big hair, big phones, pastel suits, Cabbage Patch Kids, Rubik’s cubes, Yuppies, Air Jordans, shoulder pads and Pac Man.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old who recently won a huge upset in the New York Democratic primary, has no time for people trying to discredit her hard work.
On Sunday, conservative John Cardillo — a host of Newsmax's 'America Talks Live' — posted a photograph of Ocasio-Cortez's childhood home in Yorktown Heights on Twitter.
He shared the image because he felt the house showed a far different from the struggle-filled childhood in the Bronx Ocasio-Cortez claims to have had, but believe it or not the tweet didn't wind up working in his favor.
SEE ALSO: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's reaction to winning the Democratic Primary is too pure for this world
In her viral campaign video, Ocasio-Cortez said, 'I wasn't born to a wealthy or powerful family... mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx.' She further explains on her website that while she was born in the Bronx, her parents worked hard to move her family to Yorktown Heights when she was five so she could attend a better public school.
Despite all this information, readily available online, Cardillo tweeted, 'This is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home Ocasio-Cortez grew up in before going off to Ivy League Brown University. A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she's selling.'
This is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League Brown University.
A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling. pic.twitter.com/xyOtZzVJII
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 1, 2018
In response to the tweet, Ocasio-Cortez first corrected Cardillo, explaining she went to Boston University, not Brown, and then said that her parents worked incredibly hard for the family to be able to live in the small house.
'My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity,' she tweeted, adding, 'Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.'
Hey John,
1. I didn’t go to Brown or the Ivy League. I went to BU. Try Google.
2. It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people. My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 1, 2018
3. Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 1, 2018
After replying with words that were definitely not an apology, Cardillo noted that he did incorrectly state Ocasio-Cortez's education background, but reiterated his belief that she's not 'a girl from the Bronx.'
Earlier version of this story misidentified your alma mater as Brown @Ocasio2018.
I stand corrected.
That said, you’re not a “girl from the Bronx.”https://t.co/6H5VR9G3P0https://t.co/NCIg4ildzF
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 1, 2018
Regardless of where Ocasio-Cortez lived for the majority of her childhood, what Twitter users really couldn't get over was the fact that the 28-year-old had the absolute nerve to grow up in A HOUSE!
Cardillo was quickly trolled by supporters of Ocasio-Cortez who joked that their view of the candidate completely changed after learning she once lived in a small house in a nice neighborhood. And, I mean, no one who lives in a house could possibly be hard working or struggling to make ends meet, right? So all trust in the candidate must certainly be lost now.
I was a big supporter of Ocasio-Cortez but after the latest revelation that she grew up in a house, I can no longer support her in good conscience https://t.co/Ssywkyuqyz
— PeterNorway (@classiclib3ral) July 1, 2018
Really? This is hardly the lap of luxury. Another Yorktown home if you want some context. Yes, she came from the Bronx, and lived in a very small house in a neighborhood where many were much wealthier. pic.twitter.com/l5LqeVGMpF
— Jone Johnson Lewis (@jonelewis) July 2, 2018
These damning hit pieces on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just keep coming: she had a co-worker who didn't like her, and she used to live in a house! https://t.co/pyDyUKfc5b
— Ben Siemon (@BenjaminJS) July 2, 2018
This is the home Lady Bird McPherson claimed she grew up in before going where culture is like, New York, or Connecticut or New Hampshire. A far cry from the Sacramento upbringing she’s selling. pic.twitter.com/nVEOaMg1Cm
— Aly Semigran (@AlySemigran) July 2, 2018
This is the Yorktown Heights home (very nice neighborhood) that @Ocasio2018 grew up in before leaving to go to an Ivy League school. A far cry from the Bronx upbringing she's selling. pic.twitter.com/RbywQC2bBz
— Joe Kassabian (@jkass99) July 1, 2018
I found this picture of @Ocasio2018’s childhood neighborhood. A little different from the above-ground upbringing she claims pic.twitter.com/Jz5Qp3NcLG
— Joe Gravellese (@joegrav) July 2, 2018
This is the Yorktown Heights home (very nice neighborhood) that @Ocasio2018 grew up in before leaving to go to an Ivy League school.
A far cry from the Bronx upbringing she's selling. pic.twitter.com/8moWf1kzD4
— Erik Ruiz (@ErikRuiz91) July 1, 2018
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not a True New Yorker. She was never a member of The Warriors. She was never imprisoned with Snake Plissken. She is not a sentient slice of pizza. She does not say 'I'm walkin here' upwards of ten times per day.
— Ethan Booker (@Ethan_Booker) July 1, 2018
This is the MOONBASE ALPHA (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League MOON UNIVERSITY.
A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling. pic.twitter.com/7Hq4OGzEoq
— popular comedy account “the pixelated boat” (@pixelatedboat) July 2, 2018
And, proving she has an exceptionally good sense of humor, Ocasio-Cortez replied gamely:
My identity has been exposed. I am actually Captain Catherine Janeway of the USS Voyager
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 2, 2018
Well, it seems like Cardillo successfully proved his point here. Don't you think?
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party’s rising socialist star, describes herself as “a girl from the Bronx” to project a working-class image. However, this claim is only half true – to borrow a phrase from the left-wing website PolitiFact.
Ocasio Cortez Biography
“Well, you know, the president is from Queens, and with all due respect — half of my district is from Queens — I don’t think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said this week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
She similarly told the Washington Post: “I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family — mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx. I was born in a place where your Zip code determines your destiny.”
The congressional candidate, who pulled off an upset win against high-ranking establishment Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), was indeed born in New York City’s Bronx borough. She currently lives there, too.
So what’s the issue? Ocasio-Cortez omits that for most of her formative years, she was actually raised in one of the United States’ wealthiest counties.
Around the age of five, Alexandria’s architect father Sergio Ocasio moved the family from the “planned community” of Parkchester in the Bronx to a home in Yorktown Heights, a wealthy suburb in Westchester County. The New York Timesdescribes her childhood home as “a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street.” In a 1999 profile of the area, when Ocasio-Cortez would have been ten years old, the Times lauded Yorktown Heights’ “diversity of housing in a scenic setting” – complete with two golf courses.
The paper quoted Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, describing Yorktown as ”a folksy area where people can come, kick off their shoes, wander around, sit in a cafe, listen to a concert in the park, or go to the theater.”
In a fun coincidence, Yorktown, which contains Yorktown Heights, is also home to a 436-acre state park named after – yes, one Donald J. Trump.
After high school, Ocasio-Cortez studied international relations and economics at Boston University and worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Only after college did Ocasio-Cortez return to the Parkchester complex, where she launched Brook Avenue Press, a publishing group aimed at improving the public image of the Bronx.
Westchester County – which the Washington Post, in a glowing profile on Ocasio-Cortez, describes as only “middle class” – ranks #8 in the nation for the counties with the “highest average incomes among the wealthiest one percent of residents.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049.
Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 – nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Parents Wealth
The 28-year-old’s far-left platform includes abolishing ICE, universal guaranteed employment, and Medicare for all. In an interview with CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said she supports impeaching President Trump, despite warnings from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to avoid the issue.