The ‘AOC Is a Sellout’ Narrative

Francesca Fiorentini is joined by co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, HBIC of Black Futures Lab, podcast host, and author Alicia Garza, along with award-winning writer, comedian, and podcaster Matt Lieb for this segment where they discuss the meaning of power.

Alicia recently published a book called “The Purpose of Power,” so she has certainly gone deep when it comes to the reality of power in every area that affects our lives. Power flows from the people who represent us and are able to influence the laws that govern us and where some of those laws disburse money into our communities. Alicia talks about being conscientious about how citizens can act to exercise, build, and work to transform that power, and ultimately work toward the movement’s biggest goal — transforming the nature of power from “power over” to “power with.”

Speaking of power: A lot of us don’t understand it! It seems like if you get a “Representative” or a “Senator” in front of your name, then you can probably march right up to the, um, law-signer person and be all, “Here is my law! I have gotten a lot of signatures and many people raised their hands when I asked if they liked it and common sense dictates that no rational human being would vote against this law so sign it!” And then the law-signer person is like, “OKAY THEN!” (To be fair, if you’re actually reading this, you don’t think that. But people do!) Amazingly, it does not work like this!

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC as we like to call her, is a great example of how power can be misunderstood. She’s a nationally known congresswoman who has occupied a place in the news cycle since she won the Democratic primary to represent NY-14 (eastern Bronx, north-central Queens, and Riker’s Island). Her first piece of legislation is the Green New Deal, which has been covered and discussed relentlessly since it was submitted. AOC calls herself a Democratic Socialist and takes a number of progressive positions: single-payer Medicare for All, ending private prisons, abolishing ICE, cancelling student debt, and many more. But despite the optics of AOC’s position, she is STILL ONLY ONE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE. She has to operate within a system that is very large and very OLD. Sure, her recognizability has some currency. But it only goes so far once she enters congressional chambers — in fact, it likely works against her to a degree we cannot be fully aware of.

Find Alicia Online:

Find Matt Online:

**************************************************

Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!

Support The Bitchuation Room by becoming a Patron:

Support The Bitchuation Room on:

Venmo: @TBR-LIVE

Cash-App: @TBRLIVE

Check Out The Bitchuation Room Podcast

Google Music

Find Francesca On:

YouTubeThe Bitchuation Room’s channel

Image Credit: nrkbeta

Image has been cropped and color has been altered.