CHICAGO: A onetime Somali refugee and the daughter of Palestinian immigrants shared the ancient difference Tuesday of changing into the first two Muslim ladies elected to the United States Congress.
Both ladies — Ilhan Omar, 37, and Rashida Tlaib, 42 — are Democrats from the Midwest and outspoken advocates of minority communities that experience discovered themselves in the sights of US President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant insurance policies.
Omar received a House seat in a strongly Democratic district in Minneapolis, Minnesota, succeeding Keith Ellison who was once himself the first Muslim ever elected to Congress.
Tlaib's victory was once no suprise. She ran unopposed in a congressional district that stretches from Detroit to Dearborn, Michigan.
Their tales hint a similar trail-blazing upward push through local politics.
"I'm Muslim and black," the hijab-wearing Omar mentioned in a contemporary magazine interview.
"I decided to run because I was one of many people I knew who really wanted to demonstrate what representative democracies are supposed to be," she mentioned.
Omar fled Somalia's civil struggle together with her folks at the age of 8 and spent four years at a refugee camp in Kenya.
Her circle of relatives settled in Minnesota in 1997, where there's a sizable Somali population.
She received a seat in the state's legislature in 2016, turning into the first Somali-American lawmaker in the nation.
Before that, she had labored as a neighborhood organizer, a coverage wonk for town leaders in Minneapolis, and as a pacesetter in her local bankruptcy of the NAACP — the African-American civil rights group.
She determined to run for Congress after Ellison, who may be black, determined to surrender his seat after 12 years in Congress to run for lawyer basic of Minnesota.
Omar has solid a revolutionary political identity. She helps loose college education, housing for all, and felony justice reform.
She opposes Trump's restrictive immigration insurance policies, helps a common well being care device, and wants to abolish US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has conducted deportation raids.
Rashida Tlaib is the Detroit-born daughter of Palestinian immigrants — the eldest of 14 children.
A fighter who once heckled US President Donald Trump during a 2016 marketing campaign forestall in Detroit, she says she did not run to make historical past as Muslim.
"I ran because of injustices and because of my boys, who are questioning their (Muslim) identity and whether they belong," Tlaib mentioned in an US tv interview in August.
"I've never been one to stand on the sidelines."
Like Omar, she blazed a path through Michigan politics, turning into the first Muslim woman to serve in the Michigan state legislature in 2008.
In August, she emerged because the winner of a Democratic primary for a seat vacated via John Conyers, an established liberal lion who stepped down in December amid sexual harassment allegations and failing well being.
With no Republican challenger in the race, Tlaib's election on Tuesday changed into a formality.
The seat she received is in a predominantly African American congressional district with few Muslim electorate.
She says her constituents were interested in her revolutionary politics, which are the polar reverse of Republicans.
Tlaib has advocated for common well being care, a $15 national minimum wage, union protections, and tuition-free college education.
She also has been conscious of the ancient nature of her candidacy.
During her tearful primary election victory speech in August, together with her immigrant mom via her facet, she mentioned family members in the West Bank were looking at her good fortune.
"It just shows how incredibly wonderful our country can be," she mentioned.
Both ladies — Ilhan Omar, 37, and Rashida Tlaib, 42 — are Democrats from the Midwest and outspoken advocates of minority communities that experience discovered themselves in the sights of US President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant insurance policies.
Omar received a House seat in a strongly Democratic district in Minneapolis, Minnesota, succeeding Keith Ellison who was once himself the first Muslim ever elected to Congress.
Tlaib's victory was once no suprise. She ran unopposed in a congressional district that stretches from Detroit to Dearborn, Michigan.
Their tales hint a similar trail-blazing upward push through local politics.
"I'm Muslim and black," the hijab-wearing Omar mentioned in a contemporary magazine interview.
"I decided to run because I was one of many people I knew who really wanted to demonstrate what representative democracies are supposed to be," she mentioned.
Omar fled Somalia's civil struggle together with her folks at the age of 8 and spent four years at a refugee camp in Kenya.
Her circle of relatives settled in Minnesota in 1997, where there's a sizable Somali population.
She received a seat in the state's legislature in 2016, turning into the first Somali-American lawmaker in the nation.
Before that, she had labored as a neighborhood organizer, a coverage wonk for town leaders in Minneapolis, and as a pacesetter in her local bankruptcy of the NAACP — the African-American civil rights group.
She determined to run for Congress after Ellison, who may be black, determined to surrender his seat after 12 years in Congress to run for lawyer basic of Minnesota.
Omar has solid a revolutionary political identity. She helps loose college education, housing for all, and felony justice reform.
She opposes Trump's restrictive immigration insurance policies, helps a common well being care device, and wants to abolish US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has conducted deportation raids.
Rashida Tlaib is the Detroit-born daughter of Palestinian immigrants — the eldest of 14 children.
A fighter who once heckled US President Donald Trump during a 2016 marketing campaign forestall in Detroit, she says she did not run to make historical past as Muslim.
"I ran because of injustices and because of my boys, who are questioning their (Muslim) identity and whether they belong," Tlaib mentioned in an US tv interview in August.
"I've never been one to stand on the sidelines."
Like Omar, she blazed a path through Michigan politics, turning into the first Muslim woman to serve in the Michigan state legislature in 2008.
In August, she emerged because the winner of a Democratic primary for a seat vacated via John Conyers, an established liberal lion who stepped down in December amid sexual harassment allegations and failing well being.
With no Republican challenger in the race, Tlaib's election on Tuesday changed into a formality.
The seat she received is in a predominantly African American congressional district with few Muslim electorate.
She says her constituents were interested in her revolutionary politics, which are the polar reverse of Republicans.
Tlaib has advocated for common well being care, a $15 national minimum wage, union protections, and tuition-free college education.
She also has been conscious of the ancient nature of her candidacy.
During her tearful primary election victory speech in August, together with her immigrant mom via her facet, she mentioned family members in the West Bank were looking at her good fortune.
"It just shows how incredibly wonderful our country can be," she mentioned.
In a first, 2 Muslim women elected to US Congress
![In a first, 2 Muslim women elected to US Congress]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
November 07, 2018
Rating:
