Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing fresh heat over her self-proclaimed Bronx roots after an old nickname from her schooldays in upstate New York made its way back into the spotlight. It’s sparked questions about whether the progressive firebrand’s tough Bronx persona truly matches her upbringing.
The drama kicked off again last week when AOC took to X, formerly Twitter, to have a pop at Donald Trump over his decision to authorise strikes on Iranian nuclear sites without Congressional approval. In typical bold fashion, she wrote, “I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully,” throwing shade at the former president’s Queens background while calling for his impeachment.
That’s when people began poking holes in her claim, pointing to her move from the Bronx to Yorktown Heights when she was just five. It’s a leafy suburb nearly an hour north of the city. She later attended Yorktown High School, graduating in 2007, and was known by a much softer-sounding nickname back then – “Sandy.”
According to a 2018 report by Halston Media News, she stood out as an exceptional student. Michael Blueglass, a teacher at the school, remembered her fondly. “She was amazing,” he said. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I’ve been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic.”
Ocasio-Cortez went on to study economics and international relations at Boston University. But it’s the nickname and her suburban school record that critics say clash with the image she’s cultivated since shaking up American politics in 2018, when she unseated 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley.
One of those critics is New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown. He jumped into the conversation last week, saying he attended the same high school as AOC – he was a senior when she was a freshman – and remembers her very differently from the image she presents today.
“I saw the attacks on the president and her claims that she’s a big, tough Bronx girl,” Slater said. “To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous.” Appearing on Fox & Friends First, he added, “Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie. She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team.”
“She’s lying about her background, she’s lying about her upbringing,” he claimed. His remarks, along with images of Ocasio-Cortez from her old school yearbook and pictures of her Yorktown home, quickly made the rounds on social media.
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t stay silent. Responding to the chatter, she posted on X: “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.”
“Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality and it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!”