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In last week’s La Conner Weekly News Randy Hageman mocked the qualifications and political positions of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Mr. Hageman also belittled her work as a bartender, as if working class folks are unworthy to serve in Congress. He is dead wrong on all counts. AOC was not elected because of her “charm and charisma” (though she has plenty of each). She is a graduate of Boston University, cum laude, with a double degree in international relations and economics and served as an intern on Ted Kennedy’s staff. That is an impressive resume for anyone.

AOC is not a “wacky leftist.” She supports Medicare for All, a program which would simply bring the U.S. in line with every other industrialized country. She supports the development of clean energy, in order to fight climate change. She supports federal funding for universal childcare and free tuition for public universities. Most importantly, she wants billionaires and large corporation to pay their fair share of taxes. If this agenda were realized, the U.S.’s disgraceful income inequality could be narrowed or eliminated.

Mr. Hageman also distorted AOC’s position on reparations for Black people. He could use some education. Over forty thousand of the Union troops who died in the Civil War were Black soldiers. Those men paved the way for their own freedom; it wasn’t a gift. After the war, Blacks in the south were brutalized, lynched, denied the vote and arrested for petty crimes so their “free” labor could be sold to contractors. (“Slavery By Another Name,” Douglas Blackmon).

Official U.S. government policy denied Black people the right to buy homes through the practice of “redlining” and government enforced segregation (“The Color of Law”, Richard Rothstein). Mass incarceration of Black people, its causes and consequences, are the subject of Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow.” These are only a few of the resources available to those who sincerely want to understand the history and consequences of racism in the U.S.

Please get your facts straight, Mr. Hageman – uninformed personal attacks on politicians are not a substitute for honest dialogue.

Tony Harrah

Fidalgo Island