Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Call Her ‘Latinx’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is proud of her roots — but don’t call her a Latina: she prefers the gender-neutral pronoun “Latinx.”

The 28-year-old democratic socialist upset House Democratic Caucus chair Joe Crowley (D-NY) in the New York primary on Tuesday.

“Latinx,” as HuffPost explained in 2016, is the new, progressive way to refer to people of Latin American descent, replacing the traditional -o or -a for male or female, respectively” (original links):

Latinx is the gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina and even Latin@. Used by scholars, activists and an increasing number of journalists, Latinx is quickly gaining popularity among the general public. It’s part of a “linguistic revolution” that aims to move beyond gender binaries and is inclusive of the intersecting identities of Latin American descendants. In addition to men and women from all racial backgrounds, Latinx also makes room for people who are trans, queer, agender, non-binary, gender non-conforming or gender fluid.

According to Google Trends data cited by HuffPost, the term was virtually unknown in Internet searches before 2016.

Ocasio-Cortez is a big fan of the term, judging from her Twitter feed:

Most of us don’t know what percentage we are of what. We are generations upon generations Latinx. /3

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 16, 2017

In the question of “Race,” Latinx identity is ‘irrelevant.’ But that excludes hundreds of millions of people + reinforces old paradigms. /8

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 16, 2017

Happy Black History Month everyone!

This month I’d like to celebrate some Afro-Latinx ICONS.

What better way to start than with the inimitable Celia Cruz?

Nuestra Reina de Salsa (Queen of Salsa), Celia wrote the soundtrack to my childhood and pretty much all of Latin America. pic.twitter.com/GGpmMYfHtg

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) February 1, 2018

.@TimKaine & @DougJones, you both should be ashamed of yourselves.

You each campaigned on the backs of Latinx & African American voters. Now you’re COSPONSORING legislation that makes redlining (a major element of poverty in these communities) easier for Big Banks?

Step it up. https://t.co/YeTckR6NZJ

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) February 20, 2018

The Latino community is an electoral sleeping giant in the US.

Both parties have tried for years to capture Latinx turnout, but neither has delivered on critical issues like the DREAM Act or protecting Puerto Rico from Wall St & the PROMESA Act.

That’s about to change. ⬇️ https://t.co/yf62yt3mc2

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) March 6, 2018

We conveniently forget that large, massive swaths of the United States used to be Mexico.

Latinx people are baked into the land of the Americas and the United States.

We are a product of indigenous peoples, who have been displaced and fleeing violence for most modern history.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 24, 2018

It is not clear whether Ocasio-Cortez herself identifies as gender-neutral. If so, she could become the first gender-neutral member of Congress, should she win the general election in November.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.