Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke on stage with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at the Riverside Church in Harlem. The two discussed King’s legacy and the oversimplification of his message. Coates pointed out that while no one would disagree with King’s mission statement of young black and white children holding hands someday, hiding King’s more profound statements on inequality behind such a simple platitude seems to do a disservice to everything King stood for. Ocasio-Cortez agreed, explaining that people like King and Gandhi always ended up tackling the systemic problems of poverty and wealth inequality, and wanted real solutions.
Ocasio-Cortez said the fact that New York City has residents with private helipads while thousands of others live without shelter on the streets is something that can not be ignored, as it says something about our society and its tolerance for immorality. Asking, ”Where do we draw the line?” Ocasio-Cortez questioned whether all of the technological progress we’ve seen in recent decades means anything, if our society is collectively bankrupt. ”Is our material technology outpacing our moral technology?” she wondered.
She went on to explain that the issue politically is that in doing nothing, our country has allowed our society to run on “default.” And the default setting has led us to a country where “six people in the United States have more wealth than, you know half the country, if not more.”
Ocasio-Cortez ran and won on these ideals, and she continues to promote them as actionable political positions. She asked the audience: What is the United States’ dream? Right now, what we are sold is not a collective dream at all. It’s a dream of inequality—a lottery winner’s dream. “Maybe this idea of idealizing this outcome, that maybe one day you too can be a billionaire and own more than millions of families combined, is not an aspirational or good thing.”
Coates then asked Ocasio-Cortez whether or not a “moral world” has a place for billionaires. He wondered specifically if the creation of billionaires is a “moral outcome.”
AOC: No. No it’s not.
The crowd cheered this succinct answer, but Ocasio-Cortez went on to further explain this position.
AOC: It’s not and I think it’s important to say that I don’t think that’s necessarily means that all billionaires are immoral … but I do think that a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to public health, is wrong.
She pointed out that we continue to live in a country where people have a hard time feeding and sheltering their families while working triple-digit hours per week. And yet, at the same time, our government needs to subsidize the richest corporations, in essence transferring even more of our collective wealth to the richest 1%. All of this income inequality happens with the help of our government while allowing corporations and the 1% to pay less than a living wage to employees, Ocasio-Cortez said, to cheers from the audience.
There was levity in the interview, like when the congresswoman was asked about how and when she decides to engage with trolls online. AOC joked that it’s based on an equation of the times she sees their name and if she hasn’t eaten in three hours. She also explained her belief in democratic socialism and the need to disabuse people of the popular narrative that people like herself and Sen. Bernie Sanders want the government to own everything and make everyone drink Russian vodka in a gulag. She pointed to other famous Americans who supported socialistic platforms like Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Einstein.
Asked about her outspoken stances and her willingness to speak her mind and not worry about the potential political ramifications for her career, Ocasio-Cortez explained she doesn’t subscribe to worrying about her career, as she didn’t get involved in politics to create a career. And while she also told Coates she hopes to continue to be New York’s District 14 representative for as long as she can, she isn’t going to quiet down.
“I believe now, at least for this moment, I feel a need for all of us to breathe fire.”
Amen.
The interview begins around the 16 minute mark and goes for about 50 minutes. Enjoy!