Rep. Ilhan Omar said she has faced a number of challenges as a Muslim, a woman, and an immigrant under President Trump’s leadership.
“I happen to embody multiple marginal identities. I’m a woman. I’m black. I’m a refugee, an immigrant, a Muslim, and I wear a hijab. And all of those are identities that have been vilified by the Right … and weaponized by Donald Trump,” Omar told the Independent.
The Minnesota Democrat was elected to the House in 2018, coming in with a new wave of liberal Democrats, and later became known as a member of “the Squad” along with Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley. Omar and Tlaib became the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Born in Somalia and later living in a refugee camp in Kenya for four years, she arrived to the United States in 1995. In her memoir, titled This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman, Omar says her first years in the U.S. were difficult due to racism and bullying. Her first impression of the country promised to her was disappointment, she said.
Now, Omar said the American dream has become even more difficult to attain due to the cultural and political climate.
“America … for so many people living abroad, including myself when I lived in a refugee camp, is a place where people do get an opportunity to fulfill their promise,” Omar said. “And the idea that the United States has been seen as a place of refuge, as a place where as my grandfather used to say ‘eventually everyone becomes an American’, is now being led by a xenophobic, racist tyrant, who doesn’t understand anything that is fundamental to the American identity — that’s a shock to many people.”
Omar added that she believes people will turn out against Trump in November after the experience of the last few years.
“People at this moment really are awakened to the reality of who this president is. [They are] no longer enticed by the facade of electing an outsider to come and fix Washington,” Omar said. “He’s abused the public trust. And in Minnesota, even in some of the places where he had people supporting him, they know that they’ve elected a buffoon and are looking forward to undoing that mistake.”
