This is What America Looks Like: My Journey From Refugee To Congresswoman By Ilhan Omar

 That meeting altered my relationship with the media. It wasn’t just their willingness to exploit vulnerability in order to sell papers that disgusted me. It was also the way they were talking to Andrew, as if he weren’t a human being.

...op-ed for the Star Tribune: I am a 31-year-old Somali-Muslim woman, a mother of three and an unapologetic progressive. Some suggest that as a woman, I meddle in political affairs and need to be “put in my place.” Some say I deserved what I got because my opinions are contrary to those of a few male political leaders in our community. In addition, a small group has decided that one Somali elected official is enough and now the community should sit down and be quiet. I would never be quiet, even if threatened with violence. If a Somali candidate wants to run for office of his own free will, no permission from the political establishment is required. What I have found in organizing and my political career is that anyone who believes gatekeepers can assure victory is always proven wrong. It isn’t true just in the Somali community. No leader in a true democracy can promise that the election is in the bag. Although I still have nerve pain in my neck from that night, it is nothing compared to the strength I take from the fact that the people who attacked me made a huge mistake. I know they wish they hadn’t carried out their threats on me, because if they had done nothing, the system would have functioned as it had before. My standing up to their violence allowed me to make a much bigger statement than I ever could have on my own. Your success and the successes of others you inspire can heal your wounds. Of all the wounds I have suffered, this is the one that is most healed, because every day I see the system I fought against get dismantled by people who used to feel so small but know now they too can be big.

See Introduction of Book First...

In a world of conspiracy theories and propaganda, which flourished with the rise of Donald Trump, no answer was ever going to be good enough. Indeed, in 2019, President Trump repeated the baseless conspiracy theory that I had committed immigration fraud, nearly three years after I thought I had answered it once and for all. 

WHAT IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT THE ELECTION OF DONALD Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States? It was tragic. This was a man who at a campaign rally held two days before the 2016 presidential election at the Minneapolis–St. Paul airport singled out Somali immigrants as radicals who shouldn’t have been let into the country. “A Trump administration will not admit any refugees without the support of the local communities where they are being placed,” he told thousands of supporters who showed up to the event. “It’s the least they could do for you. You’ve suffered enough in Minnesota.” For months we had knocked on doors and held massive rallies to get out the vote for his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. I traveled across the state, sharing the message that we in Minnesota “don’t get mad.” Instead, I implored people to respond to Trump by voting—in record numbers. A lot more immigrants voted in that election cycle than ever before, but it wasn’t enough. Clinton won Minnesota—but by less than 50,000 votes, just 1.5 percentage points ahead of Trump, compared to Barack Obama’s nearly 8-point margin in 2012. This was a state a Republican presidential candidate hadn’t carried since Richard Nixon! Just as I was supposed to be celebrating my victory as the first Somali American lawmaker in the United States, I was grappling with how Trump’s hateful divisive message had resonated with our neighbors. In the car ride home on election night, after the results had come in, I admitted to my team it was “scary that his hateful rhetoric can find a partner in the hearts of so many in our communities. How different the world of tomorrow is going to be for many of us.” The fight-or-flight instinct that was already overdeveloped in my brain flared. The only antidote was deconstructing his success, which took some time. I still spend time analyzing it and have come to the conclusion that there is no one answer. There are many explanations that make sense. Clinton wasn’t the best candidate. Economics also played a part. Many farming and labor communities in Minnesota, desperate for solutions to the lack of opportunity in a rapidly changing world, handed their precincts to Trump. And then there was his signature style that contributed to his success. As Americans, we think of ourselves as bold and brave. The vulgarity of Trump’s character is appealing to people for whom it doesn’t feel very American to speak in politically correct terms or conform to the rigors of empathy or subtlety. You tell people what they should think. Not the other way around. In a game of political chess, some ultra-liberals also voted for Trump. There was a contingent that thought he was too stupid and corrupt to inflict as much of what they considered damage as the neoliberals who would have advanced with Clinton could. Antiwar, anti–status quo, these voters thought that by the time Trump figured out how to move the smallest piece of his absurd agenda, it would be too late. They were all in for a rude awakening. Trump, whose sole motivation is his own self-interest, was willing to hand over the reins to anyone as long as they gave him what he wanted. And it didn’t take him very long at all to do some very real damage.

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Finishing a book--a memoir--of the life of an individual who has already faced so many attacks of one form or another has left me ashamed... Ashamed that after thousands of years, we have gone no further in moving toward God's Love for our neighbors... Instead the desire to hurt others who are different remains as a stumbling block for countries across the world, as we watch, knowing that, right now, it is worse than it has been for hundreds of years.

As I read, I found myself finding common ground with Ilhan, especially as a woman who knew she needed to be strong and ready to speak out, yet had not seen her own potential within the political realm... The only difference I found was that because of her original country's environment, she was much more willing, than I, to fight back on behalf of those who are betrayed by the government--those who are supposed to be working to help, not hinder, our individual lives. Ilhan had been fighting all her life. I had only realized the need in 2015 right before the presidential election...

Ilhan had a father who showed no difference related to the sex of his children. He encouraged Ilhan to work toward whatever she found she wanted to do... But, as with millions of others, Ilhan was caught in an area where war and fighting was the predominant method by which the country was controlled. Readers will discover exactly what that type of environment leads to--the devastation that is lost through a few men who choose to attack somebody or a group of people, just for the power of being able to do that. And, surely, we have watched right now as there is no end in sight with a war that should never have started--in Iran--as it continues daily. Mainly because there is no real plan of action on the part of the country who started that war, to even really taken hold...

Indeed, during the first term of the president, he immediately tried to place a travel ban on Muslim and other immigrants. It was based upon inciting lies about various groups. All they had to be was "different..." In my opinion, we all know exactly what coming to America was all about. It was to escape discrimination... in those countries that people fled. Now, the United States acts as if we are just like those countries who have authoritarian leaders who work for power and control over their people. So, while I feel the shame on behalf of our country of what we have done during this decade. I also can be grateful that there are people, such as Ilhan, who already are in America and who have chosen to speak out to claim their rights as defined under a constitution that has existed for over 250 years. We watch daily as a person who has been judged, or groups who have been pinpointed are working within the only way possible, in the courts, to work to retain it. It cannot be said enough, because there are many who do not realize just what could happen to our country!!! Because freedom is being denied and fought in courts, right now, daily, to stop a few who want to claim our tax dollars as their rightly income! To create monumental birthday events, to build ballrooms or architectural memorials... to place one name wherever he can as if he were...a king... 

Yes, it is extremely hard to not talk about the corruption of the government as we see how Ilhan Omar, just one woman who has taken the challenge, to fight--to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, to provide support to those in need, and do what was once a routine part of congressional action. I would very much like to ensure that this book was in the hands of anybody who wants to read and know a personal account of how she has worked to support both her people and her state. I recommend this book to all who seek documentation of exactly what happens when somebody chooses to speak up...

Because, Ilhan Omar is not the only one that has been attacked by an opposing party... Remember that Liz Cheney, a congressional leader, who, when confronted with what was happening, chose to speak truth instead of following the party line...

And, many of us watched during the last decade as more and more actions of the Supreme Court has led to unbelievably biased changes to our laws... including that the president was immune for any act while he is in office!!!! There is no way to convince many of us that the members of this Court has not become a politically motivated majority, while those who try to support the law are only able to write dissent statements... an impossible situation!

Finally, many of us have opposed Marjorie Taylor Green, mainly for her tactics, but it has always been clear that she supported MAGA. Whether or not you, too, have supported the republican party, I wanted to include her decision to leave Congress based upon actions by the present administration. Personally I have found it extremely difficult to watch the acts of one party to blame another over and over and over through lies. Lies that have been established at the highest level and required obedience by party leaders and citizens. As we now watch we see many republicans turning against acts that have no meaning other than to call attention or gain wealth. Will we ever be able to regain a semblance of true governmental dedicated people? We can only hope...

Finally, I want to close by sharing the work of Ilhan Omar as a congresswoman... She may appear aggressive--maybe even pushy to some. I find it very refreshing, though, because, to me, she is doing exactly what Congress is supposed to do. Without doing any research on what this discussion is about, it is clear that Omar is extremely well-versed in having prepared specific questions to be reviewed... While at the same time, the individuals who are testifying is NOT prepared to be responsive on a topic that apparently has been going on for quite some time... This, then, is why we must look for people to vote for to become members of our Congress. Those who will work to research and verify if those who are being paid as our representatives and are indeed doing their job! And not just working to ensure their party is in control!

We have, also, watched as members of Congress attempted over and over to do onsite inspections of actions performed by ICE and have, instead, been abused, accused, and sometimes jailed rather than be welcomed into these questionable facilities! 

Clearly, we can see the destruction of our government piece by piece, without any type or ability to change things except by voting, which, as you know, is already being corrupted through gerrymandering and others attempts to lose control of our voting systems... We MUST work together in every way possible to speak out and ensure our voters are able to respond and fight for our democracy, now under attack...

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