AOC Inspired A New Generation of Strong Women, I Met a Lesser Known AOC at USC

This is a story about two progressive young women who have been vilified not for their opinions, but for their identities. Both are examples of courage in the face of the worst kind of intolerance, when legitimate policy disagreements are abandoned for the more convenient weapon of hateful personal attack.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is a media sensation with whom I agree on almost nothing of substance. That statement may be somewhat exaggerated but she and I are in very different places on most economic, environmental and health care issues, and most deeply in opposition on how to best protect the safety and security of the State of Israel. But I admire her greatly for the way she has inspired so many of my students to become politically involved.

Ocasio-Cortez recently found herself in an argument regarding criminal justice legislation with one of her more conservative colleagues, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla). A journalist who witnessed the exchange said Yoho used a gender-based epithet to disparage Ocasio-Cortez as they parted. In his account of the confrontation, Yoho invoked his two daughters, which elicited this response from Ocasio-Cortez: “I am someone’s daughter, too,” she said. “I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter, and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”

In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez did not simply put a bully in his place; she demonstrated to a generation of young women that they don’t need to accept such abuse either — that they can and should stand up in the face of abject insults and mistreatment, and that when they do, they will not stand alone. My students — whether they are liberal, moderate or conservative — will benefit from her example.

The other young woman is not nearly as widely known as AOC – at least, not yet. I got to know Rose Ritch during her time as the head of USC’s Trojans for Israel student advocacy organization, for which I serve as faculty adviser. Last spring, Ritch was elected as USC’s student government vice president, at which point, she quickly became a target of campus activists calling for her removal from office.

Like Ocasio-Cortez, Ritch has been the victim of abuse. Shortly after the election, the new student government president resigned under pressure because of a series of microaggressions seen as hostile to students of color. No such charges were leveled against Rose; she was targeted solely because she supports Israel. She argues that her Zionism and her Judaism are inseparable.

As Ritch eloquently explains, “Our belief in the existence of the Jewish homeland, the place we literally pray to return to, is inherently connected to our Jewish identity. An attack on my proud Zionist identity is an attack on my equally proud Jewish one.”

Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, Ritch faces critics who ostensibly come from an intolerant left rather than a clueless right. But their bigotry, fanaticism and hatred are just as unacceptable regardless of origin. Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, Ritch will not receive national attention and acclaim for her bravery. But she should. Without a doubt.

Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, (Rose) Ritch will not receive national attention and acclaim for her bravery. But she should. Without a doubt.

Ritch has been considering whether she can best continue her efforts for fairness and tolerance from a platform other than student government; she is weighing whether to step down from her current position and move to other campus-leadership roles. But regardless of the mountaintop from which she chooses to make her stand, the haters remain in place. It will require not only consistent support and reinforcement from the surrounding community to help this brave young woman not only persevere, but ultimately prevail.

During my years at USC, I have watched academic giants such as former president Steven Sample and former provost Elizabeth Garrett courageously stand with the university’s Jewish students in the face of such attacks. Here’s hoping USC’s current leaders will follow the example set by Sample and Garrett, and they will be just as unambiguous and unwavering in their support for Jewish and other pro-Israel students.

Dan Schnur teaches political communications at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. He hosts the weekly webinar “Politics in the Time of Coronavirus” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall.