Those of you who have been following Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s career closely know that the “Green New Deal” has been a cornerstone of her platform since taking office in January. The “Green New Deal” is, according to the Sierra Club, a piece of legislation that aims to “mobilize vast public resources to help [the US] transition from an economy built on exploitation and fossil fuels to one driven by dignified work and clean energy.” On Tuesday, the Senate voted against passing the legislation by a margin of 0-57–an outcome that was largely expected.

What was unexpected, however, was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction to a fellow House member who dismissed the trailblazing bill as one that would only benefit “rich liberals.”

"We talk about cost—we’re going to pay for this whether we pass a Green New Deal or not. Because as towns and cities go underwater, as wildfires ravage our communities, we’re going to pay. And we have to decide whether we’re going to pay to react, or pay to be proactive."
–@AOC pic.twitter.com/akp2xPYeof

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 27, 2019

“If you are a rich liberal from maybe New York or California [the Green New Deal] sounds great,” Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin (R) stated. “Because you can afford to retrofit your home or build a new home that has a zero emissions, that is energy efficient, affordable and safe.”

Needless to say, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not view the goal of reducing carbon emissions as a liberal fantasy in the same way Rep. Duffy did.

.@AOC makes it clear: The United States pays to address #ClimateChange now with the #GreenNewDeal or suffers far greater consequences later. #UnitedStates #Politics #Audiogram #ClimateCrisis pic.twitter.com/9L3yilGnrr

— Free Speech TV (@freespeechtv) March 27, 2019

When it was her turn to speak at the committee hearing, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t mince words in her rebuttal.

“When we talk about the concern for the environment as an elitist concern, one year ago I was waitressing in a taco shop in downtown Manhattan,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is not an elitist issue. This is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx which are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. Tell that to the families in Flint…Call them elitist…People are dying!”

After the journalist and liberal media personality Brian Tyler Cohen Tweeted out the video to his 43,000 followers, the video quickly went viral–garnering more than 8 million views and 64,000 retweets in less than 24 hours.

Latinas, as usual, took to Twitter to support Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez…

???? “This is serious.”

Happy to hear that @AOC is aligned with the frontline by moving the operationalizing of a #JustTransition. It’s time. Learn what we mean when we say that: https://t.co/tmRNNOIEFn ⏰ https://t.co/lLDEeYzunL

— Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) (@CJAOurPower) March 27, 2019

The reaction on Twitter proves that combating climate change is not an issue that only effects elite liberals.

In fact, many Latinas view climate change as one of the most pressing issues in politics today.

@AOC Thank you for being a voice of reason. Your words come from the heart of many Americans who believe in helping our fellow man; who believe that clean water and air for ALL is top of the list of Congressional concerns. We MUST save the planet.— Janet (@SurruscoJanet) March 27, 2019

According to environmental scientists, the clock is ticking when it comes to both reducing and preventing humanity’s negative environmental impact.

Many Latinas experience first hand that negative consequences of the climate change crisis.

We, the people of communities like the Bronx where @AOC represents and the 7th where @AyannaPressley represents and the 5th Suffolk, where I represent are the original EJ warriors. We have been poisoned 4 generations w/ bad air, water & land. It’s not elitist, its righteous.— Rep. Liz Miranda (@lizforma) March 27, 2019

In fact, the affects of climate change disproportionately impact low-income Americans who are often displaced due to the destruction of unusual environmental occurrences.

Of course, there were those Latinas who were just ecstatic that they finally felt truly represented by a Representative.

All. Of. This! #AOC is my voice! @AOC represents my voice and my concerns for this country!!!! https://t.co/Ek8q3O36Q6— Alicia Figliuolo / adotfig on ig (@AliciaFigliuolo) March 27, 2019

It’s not every day that Latinas feel that their voices are being heard by politicians.

Some Twitter users reminded everyone that the devastating effects of climate change should not tainted by partisan politics.

The real question should be how ignorant are those old white men who don’t understand that #climatechange is real and will destroy humanity. #ScienceisReal We know the answer, they are driven by #Greed #GreenNewDeal— Michele Garron (@bassm67) March 27, 2019

Facts should not be made into a Republican vs. Democratic issue. The negative impacts of climate change are widely accepted by the scientific community.

Although the Green New Deal didn’t pass in the Senate, we’re very sure that this isn’t the end of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s fight against climate change.

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It’s not news that conservatives aren’t a fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — and not just because they don’t agree with her policies. They criticize her dancing, facial expressions, aesthetic and, now, the pronunciation of her own name.

On Tuesday night, Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked conservative lawyer Joe diGenova during a segment of her show Ingraham Angle if he had noticed that the Bronx congresswoman “put on” an accent when saying her name.

“She does the Latina thing where she does her, you know, ‘Anastasio Ocasio-Cortez,’” diGenova responded, mocking the congressional freshman by botching her first name and exaggerating the pronunciation of her surname. The former U.S. attorney took his prejudiced joke further by uttering his own name with an emphasized Italian accent.

Ingraham guest Joe Digenova says @AOC "does the Latino thing" when she talks. pic.twitter.com/sa1LLExkBA

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 20, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez responded to the host and her guest’s offensive conversation Wednesday evening on Twitter.

“If by ‘the Latina thing,’ she means I actually do the work instead of just talk about it, then yeah, I’m doing ‘the Latina thing,'” she wrote. “Unless of course she’s talking about being multilingual, which we know isn’t a ‘Latina thing.’ It’s a ‘21st century’ thing.”

She’s right. Across the US, more than 66 million people, or 21.8 percent of the nation, speak a language that isn’t English at home. Even more, in the five largest cities in the country, half the population speak another tongue. But before the “Speak English, this is America” crowd — a strange effort to advocate for in a country that actually has no official language — hurls another attack on a Spanish-speaker, they should know that 80 percent of those who speak another language at home are also proficient in English.

Ocasio-Cortez also mocked the Fox pair for their outrage over someone pronouncing their name correctly.

“How dare they refuse to say their name in a wrong accent & not mangle their own family name so that I can feel more comfortable instead of look inside myself & examine why something as small as *a person’s name* makes me uncomfortable in the first place?? This is an outrage,” she tweeted.

The New York-born politician of Puerto Rican descent then gave Ingraham and diGenova an accelerated lesson on Spanish surnames.

“My last name is Ocasio-Cortez. Full stop. That’s my name. No, you can’t say ‘Cortez.’ I’ve never used that in my life. ‘Cortez’ is referring to someone else,” she said.

The congresswoman continued: “For the curious, in Latinx culture children take *both* their parents’ names. It’s not a ‘progressive, new thing.’ It’s just how some names work.”

While Ocasio-Cortez is right that in many Latin American countries people take both their parents’ last names, she did erroneously say that in Puerto Rico, where her mother was born, the two surnames are automatically hyphenated. This is more common among Puerto Ricans and Latinxs in the US, who hyphenate the two names to avoid one of them being confused as a middle name.

Mocking Ocasio-Cortez’s pronunciation of her own name is just the latest unusual attack on the congresswoman, who Ingraham also referred to as “the It Girl and “the juice” of the Democratic Party. But the political newcomer, who today graces the cover of TIME, remains unfazed, turning every strange blow from opponents into an opportunity for education.

Read: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls The Lack Of Black And Latinx Diversity At NYC’s Specialized Schools An “Injustice”

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