Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC, began attacking members of her own party this week over their refusal to use the term “Latinx” instead of “Latino” or “Latina”.
The feud began after 2 other Hispanic Democrats in Arizona and New York publicly rebuked the term “Latinx”. The firebrand legislature took to her massive Instagram following to express her disgust in fellow Democrats for rejecting the use of the term.
AOC started her video by claiming it was part of her celebration of Gay Pride Month, which started on June 1.
“In the spirit of pride, I wanted to have a note on gender inclusivity in the Spanish language. People sometimes like to make a lot of drama over the term ‘Latinx.’ But even before ‘Latinx,’ people were trying to do this, like, use an at (@) to have the ‘A’ and the ‘O’ together.”
The Congresswoman then tried to compare language to gender, in what’s known as a “false equivalence” logical fallacy. That means she drew an unsubstantiated comparison between two unrelated things to make her point.
“Gender is fluid, language is fluid. [You] don’t have to make drama over it.”
It was at that point that she went to war with her own party, mocking the Hispanic Democrats who rejected the term for cultural reasons.
“There are some politicians — including Democratic politicians — that rail against the term ‘Latinx.’ And they’re like, ‘This is so bad. This is so bad for the party like, blah, blah blah.’ And like, it’s almost as though it has not struck some of these folks that another person’s identity is not about your re-election prospects. Like, this is not about you.”
She then tried to make a total about face on the topic, saying that she’s not trying to force anyone into changing language.
“That being said, if you don’t want to use it, no one’s forcing you to. But for people who enjoy trying to figure out language and have it meet the modern age, that’s kind of where it’s at.”
Arizona Rep Ruben Gallego recently banned the term “Latinx” from his own staff, publicly declaring:
“To be clear, my office is not allowed to use ‘Latinx’ in official communications. When Latino politicos use the term, it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias.”
The term was also rejected by another New York Democrat, Rep. Ritchie Torres. Torres, who is both gay and Latino, tweeted:
“I represent the South Bronx, home to the Yankees. Never heard anyone locally use the term ‘Latinx.’ Does a majority of Hispanics actually use the term ‘Latinx’?”
He then followed up, “If the answer is ‘no’, how did ‘Latinx’ come to be the term to use in government and Corporate America?”
It’s hard to see exactly who AOC believes she is speaking for when even the first openly gay Latino congressman is rejecting her term. Do you believe she actually cares about LGBTQ+ or Latinos or is she simply trying to find someone new to fight?
