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New York Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on her ‘Southern drawl’ to black crowd

Posted at 2:09 PM, Apr 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-06 14:09:51-04

(CNN) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is defending herself against accusations that she used a “Southern drawl” during a speech on Friday before a mostly black audience.

The New York Democrat also hit back at President Donald Trump’s knock against her at the National Republican Congressional Dinner, where he dismissed Ocasio-Cortez as a “young bartender” in slamming the Green New Deal.

“I’m proud to be a bartender, ain’t nothing wrong with that,” she told the crowd at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Convention in New York. “There’s nothing wrong with working retail, folding clothes for other people to buy. There is nothing wrong with preparing the food that your neighbors will eat. There is nothing wrong with driving the buses that take your family to work. There is nothing wrong with being a working person in the United States of America, and there is everything dignified about it.”

Conservative media outlet The Washington Examiner later posted an article with the headline, “Ocasio-Cortez adopts Southern drawl to talk to black audience.”

“Folks talking about my voice can step right off,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter Friday night.

She added, “Any kid who grew up in a distinct linguistic culture & had to learn to navigate class enviros at school/work knows what’s up. My Spanish is the same way.”

“As much as the right wants to distort & deflect, I am from the Bronx. I act & talk like it, *especially* when I’m fired up and especially when I’m home,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a separate tweet. “It is so hurtful to see how every aspect of my life is weaponized against me, yet somehow asserted as false at the same time.”

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