This line of historical argument (if you can even call it that) strikes me as of the same school as fifteenth century Italian scholars who wanted to castigate everything that came before them as part of a Dark Age and discounted the contributions of previous "rebirths" of Classical learning for being too "Gothic." Not that there aren't obvious examples of racist policies implemented during the '30s and '40s that FDR either tolerated or personally promoted during his term in office, but the habit of a certain breed of leftist to blast any example of historical progress as worthless* makes one wonder what the template for future progress looks like.
*In fairness, I wasn't able to find AOC's full remarks, so I don't know if this is actually what she was saying or if she was taken out of context.
Full context = she wasn't doing much speculating, mostly just talking about established and on-the-record facts.
