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Mentors of mine were under a big pressure to minimize their femininity to make it. I’m not going to do that. That takes away my power. I’m not going to compromise who I am.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

I see people like me, who thought someone like me couldn’t be in politics, now are saying, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t need to take money from corporations to run. Maybe I’ll run, too.’
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Money Myself People Politics Thinking
Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Myself Office Run Woman
The way the Queens Democratic party machine has worked, they operate on a politics of exclusion.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Democracy Politics Queen Way
We have to have a diversity of age represented in Congress, too.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Age Diversity Representation
Campaigns are so much more expensive than people think they are. Just to keep the lights on is several thousand dollars a month.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Expensive Light Money People Thinking
Public schools in the late ’80s and early ’90s were a total mess… we felt that if I was going to have a good educational option in my life, I would have to go to a public school district that actually served its children.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Children Education Feeling Goodness Life Myself Public Service
I felt like the only way to effectively run for office is if you had access to a lot of wealth, high social influence, a lot of dynastic power, and I knew that I didn’t have any of those things.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Feeling Influence Myself Office Social
I believe that every American should have stable, dignified housing; health care; education – that the most very basic needs to sustain modern life should be guaranteed in a moral society.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Believe Dignity Education Life Modern Myself Society Stability
We have a political culture of intimidation, of favoring, of patronage, and of fear, and that is no way for a community to be governed.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Community Fear Government Politics
Mentors of mine were under a big pressure to minimize their femininity to make it. I’m not going to do that. That takes away my power. I’m not going to compromise who I am.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Compromise Feminine Mentor Myself Pressure
I was born to a dad who was born in the South Bronx while the Bronx was burning, while landlords were committing arson to their own buildings.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Born Build Burn Father Myself
There is no such thing as talking about class without there being implications of the racial history of the United States. You just can’t do it.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

History Implication Race Talk Yourself
We know enough to reject the stereotype that people in the Midwest do not care about their brothers and sisters.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Brother Family People Rejection Sister
It’s really scary or it’s easy to generate fear around an idea or around an -ism when you don’t provide any substance to it.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Fear Ideas Scare Substance Yourself
It’s not just that I’m a woman of color running for office. It’s the way that I ran. It’s the way that my identity formed my methods.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Color Identity Myself Office Run Woman
Our democracy is designed to speak truth to power.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

Democracy Design Ourselves Power Talk Truth