Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash for comments comparing Latino's descent to Blacks

US Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday faced massive flak over her statements on the Black Lives Matter movement, where she equated African Americans and Latinx based on their descent claiming that 'Latinos are black.' 

When asked what the Latinx community should do to stop racism she said, "First thing we should do is talk about racism within our community, how we are impacted by racism and how also exists within us. “A lot of times I’ll hear people say, this is about Black Lives Matter, what about Latinos? and I always say, Latinos are black! We are Afro-Latina, and we run an entire racial spectrum." 

“We have to have conversations around colourism and we have to have conversations about the African and indigenous roots from which we come and how that’s reflected in systems of power, wealth inequality, and frankly, our political system," said Cortez in her concluding statements. 

While some backed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying that she was talking about the Afro Latina community, a spectrum of people from the Dominican, Cuba, Puerto Rico who are Black by descent, others took offence to her comments especially in the backdrop of the horrific death of African-American man George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that shook the world in the aftermath. Some also reminded Cortex of her 'history' where Latinos had in fact been oppressors and perpetrators of slavery in South America. 

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