How 4 congresswomen came to be called “the Squad”
Source: The Vox
The term is making headlines, but Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib have their own definition.
Sometime in the past few months, four members of Congress came to be referred to in mainstream media outlets as “the Squad.”
The story of how that happened says a lot about politics in America today.
Back in November, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then a representative-elect from New York, posted a photo of herself with three progressive women of color who, like her, were soon to be members of Congress — Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The caption: “Squad.”
The photo went viral, with a raft of positive media coverage. But the term “the Squad” became more widespread in media earlier this month when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd used it in an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in which Pelosi took the four to task for voting against a border funding bill.
Then President Trump got involved, with racist tweets that didn’t name the four congresswomen of color specifically but seemed clearly directed at them, telling them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Click here to read the full article published by VOX on 17 July 2019.
The term is making headlines, but Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib have their own definition.
Sometime in the past few months, four members of Congress came to be referred to in mainstream media outlets as “the Squad.”
The story of how that happened says a lot about politics in America today.
Back in November, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then a representative-elect from New York, posted a photo of herself with three progressive women of color who, like her, were soon to be members of Congress — Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The caption: “Squad.”
The photo went viral, with a raft of positive media coverage. But the term “the Squad” became more widespread in media earlier this month when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd used it in an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in which Pelosi took the four to task for voting against a border funding bill.
Then President Trump got involved, with racist tweets that didn’t name the four congresswomen of color specifically but seemed clearly directed at them, telling them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Click here to read the full article published by VOX on 17 July 2019.
