Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — or AOC for short — is always ready and willing to make hay on racial issues. Trouble is, the woman lacks complete self-awareness. Like when she accused Republicans of defending the “killing of the mentally ill” — in this case a mentally ill black man.

On Saturday evening, AOC took to Twitter to comment on the mall shooting in Texas. It was late at night, so I don’t know if she was drunk-tweeting or not. But here’s what she posted:

Republicans keep blaming mass shootings on mental health, but then defend the killing of the mentally ill too.

She was referring to the death of Jordan Neely, the 30-year-old mentally ill man who began ranting and threatening passengers on a New York subway. A former Marine, Daniel Penny, held him in a chokehold to subdue him, but Neely died.

Penny later released a statement through his attorneys, which reads in part:

Mr. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness. When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived.

And Neely did indeed have a history of violent behavior. In 2021, he punched a 67-year-old woman in the head, breaking her nose and orbital bone. For that Neely spent over a year in Rikers Island. After his stint at Rikers, he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in February of this year (the details are not available). Neely had a total of 42 prior arrests between 2013 and 2021, including four for assault.

But for AOC, the biggest issue was that Neely was black, and Penny is white, so she took the opportunity to race-grift. For her and other leftists, Jordan Neely was a talented innocent POC who loved nothing more than performing Michael Jackson moonwalk imitations.

Tenor.com.

As for Daniel Penny — he would be the very embodiment of Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed George Floyd in 2020.

AOC Was AWOL When a Homeless Chicago Man Was Set Ablaze

In May, 2022, a homeless man was sleeping near Chicago’s Trump Tower when an assailant threw gasoline on his head and set him on fire, resulting in burns over 40% of his body. The victim, 75-year-old Joseph Kromelis, was not expected to live, yet he did survive long enough to enter a rehab facility in September. However, shortly before Christmas, he died, most likely due to his injuries.

His attacker, 27-year-old Joseph Guardia, told police that he “was angry and wanted to set something on fire.” He claimed he didn’t know someone was under the blanket.

Kromelis didn’t do any Michael Jackson impressions, but apparently he never attacked anyone, either. Instead the Lithuanian immigrant earned the moniker “Walking Man” because for decades he relentlessly walked the streets of Chicago. His sister insisted he wasn’t mentally ill, and still would attend family gatherings. No matter, Chicagoans were fond of him.

So where was AOC when this homeless Chicago man was set ablaze, hmm? For someone who tweets her brain droppings without provocation, she expressed no outrage at the attack on the Walking Man or his death.

Yet it’s not as if she has never raised a stink about incidents in Chicago, either. AOC jumped to conclusions when a Chicago prosecutor refused to charge a police officer for shooting to death a 13-year-old Latino wannabe gangbanger. “The prosecutor did not ‘make an error.’ He lied,” she ranted. Except body cam footage clearly showed that Adam Toledo was carrying a gun, and dropped it just as the officer fired.

But the death of Joseph Kromelis? Wasn’t he the victim of a brutal crime? After all, even NPR mourned his passing. Oh wait, he was white. Never mind.

Making Jordan Neely About Race

Instead of working to solve the problem of the mentally ill causing havoc on the streets of big cities, AOC and her progressive fellow travelers want to make Jordan Neely a race story.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy writes:

The manic 30-year-old Neely was black. The young man who placed him in a headlock, a 24-year-old former Marine identified Friday as Daniel Penny, was white. In a sensible world, the happenstance of the racial difference would go unmentioned because, objectively, it was irrelevant.

McCarthy continues:

The happenstance of racial disparity made no difference, except to the demagogues who carp their way to control of our public debate — to whom it is now the only thing that matters.

And the captain of this cheerleading squad of demagogues is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Featured image: original art by Darleen Click.