Thursday April 18, 2019
By Briana Bierschbach
Rep. Ilhan Omar walks through a crowd at a press conference at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on Jan. 25, 2017. Evan Frost | MPR News 2017
Growing up in Somalia, Ilhan Omar's bedtime stories were about
Araweelo, a tiny queen who ruled over a kingdom where all women were
leaders and all men were peasants. Araweelo's folklore spread throughout
Africa, and even long after she died, women left flowers at her grave
while men threw stones.
"My grandfather would tell me this story every single day," Omar said to a crowd gathered at St. Joan of Arc, a progressive Catholic church in Minneapolis, her small frame pacing across the stage.
"Araweelo
was also a very small, tiny person," Omar said. "She wasn't feared
because she was a big person. She wasn't feared because she was a
tyrant. She was feared because she was wise and she was just." The
story about a woman who was both revered and despised seems prescient
now, given Omar's political future. Omar made these remarks back in 2018
when she was still a first-term DFL member of the Minnesota House from
Minneapolis. She was months away from winning an open race for the 5th
Congressional District.
In the span of a few short years, Omar's
gone from a behind-the-scenes activist in Minneapolis politics to a
figure known around the world, loved or loathed for what she represents
to people.
Young
progressives have celebrated the rapid rise of a refugee and Muslim
woman in the era of Donald Trump. She's joined forces with other
prominent freshman lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
D-NY, with the intent on shaking things up in Congress. She's appeared
on the cover of TIME Magazine
and as a guest on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, racking up
nearly 1 million followers on Twitter in the process. She even had a cameo in a Maroon 5 music video.
But her critics are just as fervent.
Early in her time in Congress, Omar fired off a series of tweets on the
conflict in Israel and the lobbying forces behind it in Washington that
were criticized as playing on anti-Semitic stereotypes and culminated in
a dramatic vote on the floor of the U.S. House condemning all forms of hate.
Recently, a picture of Omar's face next to the flaming World Trade Center — falsely linking her to the 9/11 terrorist attacks — caused so much outrage in the West Virginia Capitol that it resulted in a staffer's resignation and lawmaker kicking a door open so hard he injured a doorkeeper.
And just last week, Trump issued a tweet
suggesting Omar downplayed 9/11 in speech in March to the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. It's caused backlash for Omar and an uptick in death threats
to her office. But it's also sparked a #StandWithIlhan movement on
social media, with her supporters arguing the president and Republicans
took the quote out of context to villainize her.
Supporters
of President Trump and Rep. Ilhan Omar line the street outside of Nuss
Truck and Equipment before a round table with the president in
Burnsville, Minn. on April 15, 2019. Evan Frost | MPR News
University of
Minnesota political science professor Kathryn Pearson said the tweet
rallied Democrats around Omar, but she is quickly becoming the mascot of
the GOP's 2020 election strategy, with the party using her as a proxy
to tar all Democrats.
"It used to be done with Nancy Pelosi for a long time, and now there
are a number of first-term Democratic women, Democratic women of color
in particular, that I think Republicans will really focus on in the next
election," she said.
The whole situation has brought glaring
attention to Omar, 36, whose droll sense of humor and slow, deliberate
manner of speaking belie the controversy that constantly surrounds her.
"I
actually read the comments on Twitter, I read the comments on news
articles, because I find them sometimes to be the most entertaining
things," Omar told MPR News in an interview, one of only a few with
local media since she's been elected to Congress. "I'm really
entertained by their creativity and the things they come up with."
Omar
has, in some ways, grown accustomed to the chaos: it's been there her
entire life, from her childhood in a refugee camp to her days as a DFL
activist and state legislator. All of it has shaped her approach to
Congress as much as her grandfather's words of advice, who told Omar to
take the day like Araweelo.
Rep.
Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rally with fellow Democrats on the East Steps
of the U.S. Capitol March 8, 2019 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla |
Getty Images File
Refugee and immigrant
Omar
was just 8 years old when civil war broke out in Somalia. She still
remembers the night militia men entered her family's compound in
Mogadishu.
It was the early 1990s and the nation imploded over
the increasingly totalitarian rule of President Siad Barre. He was
ousted along with the national army, and in their void a conflict among
clans erupted, pitting neighbors against neighbors. Omar's family home
in the city was in the middle of two opposing forces.
"I remember hiding under the bed with one of my aunts and one of my
sisters and sort of everything getting quiet inside the home," Omar
recalled. "And then militia men who were outside of our windows started
talking about ways that they could make their way in."
Fortunately,
Omar said, her aunt recognized the men's voices and realized they were
her classmates. She negotiated with them to leave the family alone.
Eventually the voices faded away, and by morning they were gone.
But so was the Somalia of Omar's youth, which she remembers as "glorious" before the war.
She
said she was the youngest of seven children in a prominent, affluent
family. Omar lived in a blended compound with her grandfather and other
relatives, many of them educators and officials in government. Her
education was a top priority for the family: she went to school during
the day, and when she returned home, her relatives would act as her
"third" and "fourth" teachers, Omar said. In the afternoons, the family
would eat lunch together, debate politics and listen to music and the
news hour on Radio Mogadishu.
Her mother died when she was 2,
but Omar said she never really understood that she grew up without a
mom. In an interview with MPR News last year, Omar said she didn't know
exactly how her mom died. She said she was spoiled with the affection of
her father and grandfather, who raised her to feel she was special and
to voice her opinions in a mostly patriarchal society.
But after
their close call with the militia, the family decided it was no longer
safe to stay in their home. They were some of the first people to settle
in the Utanga refugee camp near the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa. At
the time, the camp was just some tents and makeshift huts erected in an
isolated jungle setting. Omar remembers it like a "huge playground."
"I
know that even sounds silly saying it, but as a kid it was like a
newfound independence to be able to roam around," she said.
Ilhan
Omar celebrates with her husband Ahmed Hirsi after her Congressional
5th District primary victory in Minneapolis, Minn., on November 6, 2018.
Kerem Yucel | AFP | Getty Images 2018
There
was no sanitation or water at the camp, and with restrictions placed on
the adults, it became young Omar's job to do many of the chores, such
as fetching water. The family spent four years there before they got
sponsorship through a resettlement program to move to Arlington,
Virginia. Omar said the only things she could say in English were
"hello" and "shut up."
For the first time in her life, Omar felt different in her mostly white school, where she said she was bullied.
"Growing
up in an all-black, all-Muslim society doesn't really lend itself to a
lot of discussion about what it means to be Muslim or black," Omar said.
When she complained about it to her father, he pushed her to learn English as quickly as possible.
"He talked about how it's hard to hate up close," she said.
She
was proficient in English within six months, according to Omar, and a
few years after moving to America her family decided to resettle in the
Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis and its growing East African
community.
Political 'trial by fire'
Knowing
English came in handy when Omar started attending DFL caucus meetings
as a teenager, interpreting for her grandfather. They weren't
necessarily invited, she said.
"I believe that you have to try
something to really know what it's like," she said. "There is this idea
that you have to get invited or asked for permission to participate in
any kind of way, I've always believed that is not necessary."
Omar went to college, started a family in her 20s and worked as a
nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota. At the same time, she
was rapidly rising in the activist ranks in Minneapolis DFL political
circles. She served on local boards and ran several campaigns,
eventually landing a job as a policy aide at Minneapolis City Hall.
"Sometimes
she will tell you stories about her life, and you will realize two
things were happening at the same time," said Erin Maye Quade, a former
state DFL representative who worked with Omar. "She is talking about
being in college but also talking about being a mother at the same
time."
"She just doesn't strike me as someone who is patient,"
she added. "That is just not who she is, and the more you hear about her
life and the more she talks about it, the more you see that she's like,
'I'm ready to go, right now, and do the work."
Then-State
Rep. Ilhan Omar, center, takes the oath of office as the 2017
Legislature convened Jan. 3, 2017, in St. Paul, Minn. Jim Mone | AP 2017
By 2016, Omar had made the transition from activist to candidate, running in a competitive three-way DFL primary for a Minneapolis seat in the state House. She won — toppling a 44-year incumbent, Phyllis Kahn — and was handily elected in November.
She
became the first-ever Somali-American woman elected to a state
Legislature in the nation — the same night Trump won the presidency.
But Omar's step into public life kicked off a string of controversies that followed her everywhere. She's dogged and denied allegations
from the conservative blogosphere that she was married to two men at
once, one being her brother to help him obtain legal status. Republicans
in the Legislature mounted a series of complaints that Omar repeatedly
flouted campaign finance laws. The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board cannot confirm or deny the existence of any complaints.
"It's
been a trial by fire for her," said Minneapolis City Council Member
Andrew Johnson, who hired Omar as his policy aide in City Hall. "You see
that taken into every new experience, she has to quickly learn to
navigate and get her feet under her and learn how to be more successful
in every situation she is in."
Embattled start in Congress
The scrutiny on Omar only intensified when, two years later, she emerged
as the Democrat who would replace former DFL U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison in
Congress.
In February, just weeks after being sworn into office, she sent a tweet
suggesting American politicians' support for Israel is "all about the
Benjamins," a reference to $100 bills. She followed that with a tweet
specifically calling out the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), one of the main lobbying forces behind Israel.
That earned her swift rebuke from the Jewish community, who accused her of trafficking in dangerous anti-Semitic stereotypes that Jews use money to gain power. Republicans called for her to resign from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Omar eventually "unequivocally" apologized for the posts, saying her Jewish allies were educating her about "the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes."
But
the next month, at a forum in Washington, D.C., bookstore, Omar said,
"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."
That was also criticized as playing into stereotypes about divided loyalties among Jewish-Americans. This time, Omar didn't apologize.
U.S.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., arrives to observe the Senate's
failed votes to reopen the federal government on Capitol Hill in
Washington, DC, on January 24, 2019. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
File
That triggered the House resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, but not specifically Omar.
The
situation is causing some heartburn back in her liberal 5th district,
which has a sizable Jewish community. Shep Harris is one of them and a
longtime Democratic activist and mayor of Golden Valley. He said Omar
should meet monthly with rabbis, synagogues and other Jewish leaders to
show the community that she's listening and learning.
"That's
what we need," he said. "We need a member of Congress who can help unify
a majority of this district, and right now that's not happening," he
said.
Her friends and allies in the district are watching in
disbelief. Habon Abdulle, a Somali activist who encouraged Omar to run
for office, said she doesn't know how to process hearing Omar called an
anti-Semite. She said she's being unfairly targeted as a Muslim woman.
"I
wish people could know her, because she is the person you want to have
at your side when you are a marginalized person and if you want to be
defended," Abdulle said. "And it's totally untrue how people are saying
she's an anti-Semite.
"I was like, do they even know Ilhan?"
Omar's story 'will be written'
At
the St. Therese senior care facility in New Hope in March, Omar was
surrounded by women much like her: They fled civil war in Africa and
came to America for a better life.
But these women, employees at
the facility and others like it across the Twin Cities metro area, were
Liberians at risk of losing their legal status in the U.S. in days if
Trump didn't extend the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program.
"Twenty years, 10 years, 15 years is putting deep roots in a community,
so when you do that in a new country, the old country is no longer
home," Omar said, highlighting her bill that would extend their status.
In
the middle of the press conference, Betty Munford started to weep at
the thought of her friends and co-workers being sent away. Omar walked
over and put her arms around Munford. Afterward, the women mobbed Omar
for selfies. Munford was breathless about her encounter and embrace from
the congresswoman, an immigrant like herself. She was unfazed by any of
the controversies surrounding her.
"Oh, god, it felt so good, I felt so blessed," she said. "I love her so much. I love her so much no matter what she does."
Rep.
Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., listens as lawmakers speak about the Voting Rights
Enhancement Act on Capitol Hill on Feb. 26, 2019 in Washington. Joshua
Roberts | Getty Images
Trump ultimately did extend the DED program for another year.
Omar considers part of her responsibility in Congress to bring a
voice to refugees and others who haven't had "a seat at the table." As
one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, one of her first acts was
to change a 181-year ban on headwear on the House floor so that she
could wear her hijab. She went viral in February over her tough
questioning of Trump's special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, about
his role in Central American killings during his stint in the Reagan
administration.
She said her views on Israel — she favors a
two-state solution — are informed by her experience as a survivor of war
and as a refugee. Without their homeland, the Palestinian people are
permanently displaced, she said in a recent editorial in the Washington Post. "This, too, is a refugee crisis, and they, too, deserve freedom and dignity."
"There's
a challenge for every first, but eventually we can transform this
place," she recently told MPR News. "There are lots of policies that are
nuanced now because we have moms in Congress. There are policies that
are nuanced because we have people who come from working-class
backgrounds."
That's how she views her moment of controversy as
well. When the House voted to condemn anti-Semitism as a rebuke of her
comments, Omar noted it marked also the first time Congress voiced
opposition to Islamophobia.
"It's in those moments when millions
of people feel like the most powerful body in the world is able to see
them and acknowledge their existence," she said.
Ellison, now Minnesota's attorney general, held the seat before Omar and was a first, too: He was the first Muslim member of Congress.
Supporters
of President Trump and Rep. Ilhan Omar line the street outside of Nuss
Truck and Equipment before a round table with the president in
Burnsville, Minn. on April 15, 2019. Evan Frost | MPR News
"Not
all of them are coming at you because they hate you. Most of them are,
yes, but some of them are people who are just thrilled that you are
there because nobody like you has ever had this position, and their
expectations of you are too high," Ellison said. "There's a lot of
hostility and there's a lot of high expectations, and it's just not
easy. Anything you say or do is going to be taken down and reinterpreted
in some kind of way."
Omar doesn't expect the people who dislike her to stop trolling her
on Twitter or stop leaving comments about her on news articles, and she
chuckles now about her grandfather telling her the story of the
controversial Araweelo, the powerful ancient queen.
In Somalia,
there are two diverging versions of Araweelo's myth: Some men say she
was a ruthless ruler, while many women idolize her. Omar said the
message he was trying to convey holds a lot of currency with her today.
"No
matter what you do, your story will be written," she said. "The best
that you can do for yourself and those around you is make sure that you
are living the story that you want to be written about you."