Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended her comments over the weekend suggesting that the increase in crime in New York City is likely due to struggling residents being forced to shoplift to “feed their sons “saying that Republicans have not” experienced or seen “poverty.
“Republicans are upset that I am connecting the dots between poverty and crime,” the progressive Firebrand tweeted. “I know that most of them have not experienced or seen these problems first hand, but I have. This may be difficult for them to admit, but poverty and crime are highly linked, both violent and non-violent. “
In a virtual town hall meeting she held Thursday, and The Hill, the 30-year-old Democratic congresswoman, shared some clips about the troubling rise in violent crime that hit the city.
“Do we think this has to do with the fact that there is record unemployment in the United States right now?” She replied. “The fact that people are at a level of economic despair that we haven’t seen since the Great Recession?”
AOC SUGGESTS NYC CRIME INCREASE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT, RESIDENTS NEEDING TO ‘BUY SOME BREADS’
“Perhaps this has to do with the fact that people are not paying the rent and are afraid to pay the rent, so they go out and need to feed their children and have no money,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. , adding that “they are placed in a position where they feel they need to steal some bread or starve that night.”
The latest jobless claims figures from the Labor Department increase the number of job losses since the shutdown began to nearly 50 million, or roughly 31 percent of the nation’s workforce.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has reported a staggering increase in shootings and violent crimes in recent weeks. On Saturday, the New York Post reported 15 shootings in 15 hours, just a week after the city saw a bloody July 4 weekend with 44 shootings and at least eight deaths.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called the congresswoman’s comments “staggering” in “America’s Newsroom.”
“There is a big difference between shoplifting and cold-blooded murder and not knowing that the difference is downright surprising,” Huckabee said.
Host John Roberts mentioned the fact that a 1-year-old boy was shot dead and three other people were injured Sunday night at a family meal in a Brooklyn park, according to authorities.
“His saying, ‘people are hungry, so they are going out and raising bread,’ no, they are going out and killing people at random,” Huckabee said.
“You don’t kill a 1-year-old because you need bread, that doesn’t put bread on your table and that’s why it’s absurd [Ocasio-Cortez’s] comments have to be called. “
“She must be held accountable for this,” he continued. “She needs to go back and recognize that violent crime has nothing to do with people raising some bread.”
New York City recently cut the NYPD budget by $ 1 billion, but Ocasio-Cortez criticized the cuts for not going far enough and accused de Blasio of using “budget tricks” and “fun math” in the calculation. Others, including former law enforcement officials, have made the same argument about the budget tricks being used to reach the $ 1 billion figure.
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When asked later to comment on the issue, the congresswoman said, “When people ask me, ‘What is a world like where we pay police money?’ I reply that it looks like a suburb.”
