Ilhan Omar: First female Somali American lawmaker

 

By

James Reinl

James Reinl is a journalist and world affairs analyst who has reported from more than 30 countries and won awards for covering Haiti’s earthquake, Sri Lanka’s civil war and human rights abuses in Iran.

New York, the United States - An election that won Donald Trump the White House and gave

Republicans control of Congress was an unlikely moment for the United States to also get its first Somali American legislator in the form of headscarf-wearing Ilhan Omar.

Omar, a 34-year-old refugee from Somalia's bullet-ridden capital, Mogadishu, won a seat in Minnesota's House of Representatives on November 8, as a self-styled progressive who would stick up for fellow Muslims and work for fairer pay and better schools in Minneapolis.

To her supporters, she is a charismatic ambassador for Somalis and Muslims and a silver lining in an election that elevated the Republican candidate, Trump, who campaigned against the threat of terrorism from Muslim refugees, like Omar.

Crowds chanted her name as Omar made her victory speech Tuesday night, wearing pearls and elegant white robes. Critics ask, however, whether beneath the sparkly smile and all-purpose liberal slogans, she is a political lightweight who dodges scrutiny. 

"If we've learned anything these past few days, it's that America is at a point of divide with two very opposing concepts of nationalism," Omar's spokesman Akhilesh Menawat told Al Jazeera.

"We've found that our solution - uniting people and thriving in our diversity, not fearing diversity - works. We've done Minneapolis; now it's time to go to the state and keep moving forward. There's a lot more work to do."

Proving her worth

Omar was born in Mogadishu, but her family fled after dictator Siad Barre was toppled in 1991 and Somalia collapsed into cycles of clan-on-clan violence, famine and religious fanaticism, which continue to blight the Horn of Africa nation. 

After four years in a Kenyan refugee camp, Omar's family was excited to secure refugee resettlement to the US state of Virginia. They soon joined fellow Somalis in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a northern Rust Belt state on the Great Lakes bordering Canada.

Twelve-year-old Omar knew little English and grew frustrated that teachers continuously overlooked her in class. She once showed pluck when a maths teacher ignored her raised hand when asking pupils to solve a number puzzle.

"In defiance, she just walked up to the board and answered the problem and sat back down - to prove that she was worth something," said Menawat.

Aged 14, she got her first dose of US-style politics when interpreting for her grandfather at caucuses of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL), a Democratic affiliate. It stuck and soon, she was a student organiser at Edison High School.

She earned degrees in business, political science and international studies. She helped female African immigrants. As a city council policy wonk, she favoured rehabilitating rather than jailing offenders, and helped restaurants stay open late for fast-breaking Ramadan suppers.

During her campaign to represent district 60B, some 400 volunteers canvassed more than 100,000 voters to push Omar's pledges of social justice, "closing the opportunity gap" and cleaning up the environment.

After defeating a DFL veteran in her August primary, Omar's campaign was caught in a scandal over alleged bigamy. In a statement, she distinguished between her "legal" and "faith tradition" marriages. She lives with Ahmed Hirsi and their three children.