Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of 435 members of the incoming US House of Representatives, said on Monday that members of her family were Sephardim who were forced to flee to Puerto Rico during the Spanish Inquisition.
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at an event marking the eighth and final night of Hanukkah, at a gathering held with the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. She thanked the organization on a social media account for assembling the festivities.
“So many of our destinies are tied beyond our understanding,” Ocasio-Cortez said regarding her family lineage.
Ocasio-Cortez told the audience of her family’s struggles as Sephardim, and how they were forced to flee into the mountains of Puerto Rico during the Spanish Inquisition and practice Catholicism as a front to escape antisemitic oppression. Read more>>
