AOC breaks silence on yearbook photo that destroyed her tough girl from the Bronx image
On Tuesday, State Assemblyman Matt Slater jumped into the online clash between AOC and President Donald Trump, after the liberal progressive called for Trump's impeachment over his approval of airstrikes on Iran without congressional authorization.
After the discourse led users to show off her alleged old home in Yorktown Heights - supposedly now valued at over a half a million dollars - Ocasio-Cortez responded to allegations she grew up 'privileged.'
'I'm proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time! My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors' homes in exchange for SAT prep,' she wrote to social media.
'Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it's a big reason I believe the things I do today!'
Slater told The New York Post the left-wing congresswoman was just continuing to double down on her inconsistent story.
'She's embarrassing herself for doing everything possible to avoid saying she grew up in the suburbs instead of the Bronx.'
'She has said she visited extended family, she has said she commuted,' Slater said. 'Now she's in between. It's clearly desperate attempts to protect the lie that she is from the Bronx.'
After the discourse led someone to show off her alleged old home in Yorktown Heights - supposedly now valued at over a half a million dollars - Ocasio-Cortez responded to allegations she grew up 'privileged'
Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx, though she moved to Yorktown at the age of five, eventually graduating from Yorktown High School before attending Boston University.
The original clash earlier this week ignited a fiery exchange between AOC and Trump, during which the congresswoman appeared to invoke her Bronx roots as a source of her toughness.
'Also, I'm a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully,' AOC wrote to X in regards to the president's Queens upbringing.
But Slater escalated the debate by unveiling a yearbook photo of her as a high school freshman in the affluent suburb of Yorktown, Westchester County - a 40-minute drive from the Bronx.
'If you're a BX girl then why are you in my Yorktown yearbook?' Slater wrote on X. 'Give it up already.'
Alongside his tweet, the Republican lawmaker posted two images: a black-and-white throwback of a young, smiling AOC, and the 2004 yearbook cover from Yorktown High School.
In a statement to The New York Post, he dismissed the 'AOC-Bronx mythology' as 'laughable,' adding that the claim is just as laughable to the 36,000 residents of the Westchester community.
'The truth is AOC is Sandy Cortez who went to Yorktown High School and lived at the corner of Friends Road and Longvue Street,' Slater told the outlet.
'She may think it makes her look tough or like some kind of champion for the radical left who voted for Zohran Mamdani, but she really needs to come clean and drop the act,' he added.
The takedown came shortly after AOC - who represents parts of both the Bronx and Queens - called for Trump's impeachment following his order to deploy a dozen 30,000-pound 'bunker buster' bombs that reportedly 'obliterated' Iran's three largest nuclear facilities.
'The president's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,' she said on Saturday.
'He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.'
Trump swiftly fired back, challenging her to 'go ahead and try impeaching me, again.'
'Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the 'dumbest' people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before,' he wrote in retaliation.
Trump then noted that the liberal firebrand 'can't stand the concept of our country being successful again,' because members of her party 'aren't used to winning.'
After that came the personal attacks on the congresswoman's intelligence, as Trump added 'when we examine her test scores, we will find out that she is not qualified for office.'
Less than an hour later, AOC replied to Trump's jab, writing: 'Mr. President, don't take your anger out on me - I'm just a silly girl.'
'Take it out on whoever convinced you to betray the American people and our Constitution by illegally bombing Iran and dragging us into war,' she added.
'It only took you five months to break almost every promise you made.'
But Slater - representing parts of both Putnam and Westchester counties - quickly jumped in, posting the two photos with the caption beneath one: 'Here's the Yorktown High School '04 yearbook pic. Friends Road looks nothing like the Bronx.'
The 35-year-old Democratic socialist congresswoman has faced scrutiny over her suburban upbringing since her unexpected triumph in 2018 catapulted her onto the national stage.
During her campaign, AOC highlighted her deep personal ties to the borough by sharing stories of her childhood and neighborhood life, aiming to authentically connect with Bronx voters and present herself as 'one of their own.'
Even during a segment with late-night host Stephen Colbert during Trump's first term, she reaffirmed her Bronx identity, telling him, 'I don't think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx.'
However, at just five years old, AOC moved with her family to a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street in Yorktown Heights - a suburban relocation driven by the search for better schools, according to a 2018 article by The New York Times.
In 2007, the congresswoman graduated from Yorktown High School before attending Boston University, where she studied economics and international relations—and briefly engaged with establishment politics - before returning to the Bronx.
Once back in the borough, she began advocating for improved childhood education and literacy - and even launched a children's book publishing company aimed at portraying the Bronx in a more positive light.
Despite criticism of her suburban roots, AOC has continued to lean into and defend her Bronx narrative, arguing that her time in Yorktown highlighted the stark disparities people face based on where they're born.
'It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people,' she said in reference to Yorktown in a 2018 tweet.
'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.'
AOC's biography notes that she was born in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx before her family moved north to Yorktown.
'Alexandria's mother was born and raised in Puerto Rico and worked throughout her childhood as a domestic worker,' her biography reads. 'Alexandria's father was a second-generation Bronxite, who ran a small business in The Bronx.'
Throughout her childhood, Representative Ocasio-Cortez traveled regularly to The Bronx to spend time with her extended family,' it adds.
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