So when I see Israel institute laws that recognize it as a Jewish state and does not recognize the other religions that are living in it and we still uphold it as a democracy in the Middle East, I almost chuckle...
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Ilhan Omar
Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1981) is a Somali American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district since 2019. The district is based in Minneapolis and also includes Edina, Richfield, St. Louis Park, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley, and Fridley. In 2016, Omar was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, making her the first Somali American elected to legislative office in the United States. On November 6, 2018, she became the first naturalized citizen from Africa and first Somali-American elected to the United States Congress. Along with Rashida Tlaib, she was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Omar is also the first nonwhite woman to serve as a U.S. Representative from Minnesota. 2Early life and education Omar was born on October 4, 1981, in Mogadishu and spent her early years in Baydhabo, Somalia. She was the youngest of seven siblings. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, a Somali, worked as a teacher traine
In America, no one should die because they can’t afford healthcare.
It is a mark of shame that in the wealthiest country in the world people are dying because they can’t afford lifesaving medicine.
I believe that healthcare is a basic human right. And the right to healthcare extends to being able to access prescription drugs at an affordable price. Americans pay the highest prices to access drugs in the world—including three times the price of drugs in Great Britain alone. Instead of taking…
So I know many [Members of Congress] were fighting for people to be free, for people to live in dignity in South Africa… So I know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, here is a group of people that we want to make sure that they have the dignity that…
To me, it’s something that becomes designed to end the debate because you get in this space of – yes, I know what intolerance looks like and I’m sensitive when someone says, ‘The words you used Ilhan, are resemblance of intolerance.’ And I am cautious of that and I feel pained by that. But it’s…
We’re here, we’re here to stay and represent the voice of the people who have been silenced for many decades and generations.
There’s a direct correlation between corporations that are getting rich, and the fact that we have students who are shackled with debt. There is a direct correlation between the White House and the people who are benefiting from detention beds that are profitized [sic].
No, we know what hate looks like. We experience it every single day. [applause] We have to deal with death threats. I have colleagues who talk about death threats. And sometimes… there are cities in my state where the gas stations have written on their bathrooms ‘assassinate Ilhan Omar.’ I have…
And so, when people say ‘you are bringing hate,’ I know what their intention is. Their intention is to make sure that our lights are dimmed. That we walk around with our heads bowed. That we lower our face and our voice.
And what I am fearful of is that because Rashida and I are Muslim, that a lot of Jewish colleagues, a lot of our Jewish constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be anti-Semitic, because we are Muslim. And so to me, it is something that becomes…
So for me, I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. And I want to ask, why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries, or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful…
But we never really allow space for the stories of Palestinians seeking safety and sanctuary to be uplifted. And to me, it is the dehumanization and the silencing of a particular pain and suffering of people, should not be OK and normal. And you can’t be in the practice of humanizing and uplifting…