AOC responds to 'hateful' Memorial Day video by explaining her morning routine

She shared how far-right messaging affects both her and her staff

Lily Puckett
New York
Wednesday 29 May 2019 18:37 BST
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Fresno Grizzlies air Memorial Day video depicting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an 'enemy of freedom'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to a video aired during a Minor League baseball game that appeared to equate her with Kim Jong-Un - by sharing how similar media attacks multiply the number of death threats aimed at her.

The video was played over the weekend during a Fresno Grizzlies baseball game in Fresno, California. It featured various images of Americans soldiers set to a Ronald Reagan’s 1984 Memorial Day speech. At the end, as the former president mentions “the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries,” an image of Rep Ocasio-Cortez was placed in between slides of Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro.

“What people don’t (maybe do) realize is when orgs air these hateful messages, my life changes bc of the flood of death threats they inspire,” she wrote in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “I‘ve had mornings where I wake up & the 1st thing I do w/ my coffee is review photos of the men (it’s always men) who want to kill me.”

“I don’t even get to see all of them,” she continued. “Just the ones that have been flagged as particularly troubling. It happens whenever Fox gets particularly aggressive + hateful, too.”

The New York congresswoman went on to explain that her entire office is affected by outburst of hate towards her as well, writing: “Young interns have to constantly hear hateful messages (far beyond disagreement) from ppl we don’t even rep.”

The Fresno Grizzlies have apologised for the video, saying it was not “properly vetted.”

Representative Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to the Grizzlies in particular in her tweets, but pointed out that such actions “can have consequences for safety.”

“For those who believe in ‘free speech’: whose free speech do you believe in?,” she wrote. “Bc some folks using free speech to defend racism are also supporting folks passing laws to allow running over protesters.”

Her last line appears to refer to a round of proposed laws that would protect drivers who run over protestors introduced in 2017 North Dakota, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Texas following the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia. Miss Heyer was run over by James Fields Jr, who was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder in late 2018. She was joining groups, including people identifying as Antifa, or anti-fascists, in Charlottesville who were protesting a white nationalist rally that Fields Jr. was attending at the time of her death.

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