{"id":8016,"date":"2017-01-03T08:20:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T08:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=8016"},"modified":"2017-01-03T08:20:08","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T08:20:08","slug":"meet-ilhan-omar-first-somali-american-us-legislator-win-offers-counter-narrative-bigotry-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2017\/01\/03\/meet-ilhan-omar-first-somali-american-us-legislator-win-offers-counter-narrative-bigotry-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Ilhan Omar, the First Somali-American US Legislator: My Win \u2018Offers a Counter-Narrative to the Bigotry in the World\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/api\/res\/1.2\/lkX9Mmt09GqS1GsknT6DFw--\/YXBwaWQ9eW15O3E9NzU7dz02NDA7c209MQ--\/http:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en-US\/homerun\/people_218\/77229554ce57040293fd169a30decba3\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_18_0_4_1483431298292_2087\">On Nov. 8, Ilhan Omar made history when she was <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/4564296\/ilhan-omar-first-somali-legislator\/\" data-ylk=\"itc:0;elm:context_link;;\" data-rapid_p=\"8\">elected the first Somali-American lawmaker<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy election win offers a counter-narrative to the bigotry in the world,\u201d Minnesota State Representative-elect Omar, 34, says in the new issue of PEOPLE. \u201cThis is a land of immigrants, and most come here for opportunity, a second chance. It\u2019s our time to fight for the America we know we can have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Omar herself is an immigrant, having fled her civil war-torn home country of Somalia as a child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe war started when I was 8,\u201d says Omar, who recalls witnessing the terrors of conflict. \u201cOne night militia tried to break into our home, and\u00a0the exterior was riddled with bullets. My family left our neighborhood, passing through dead bodies and debris.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not long after, Omar says she and her family left their home and relocated\u00a0to a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI no longer had a bed of my own, the privacy of a shower in my own bathroom \u2014 we were essentially homeless,\u201d Omar says. \u201cI would fetch water, and my family would reward me with a shilling at the end of the day, so I would go see a movie in the village next door in a makeshift theater: a hut.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After four years years in that Mombasa refugee camp, Omar and her family were sponsored to move to the United States, arriving in New York before moving to Arlington, Virginia, where Omar, then 12, began middle school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c had missed years of education, so I didn\u2019t really speak English,\u201d Omar says. \u201cMy sisters and I learned by practice, watching TV with the captions on, reading and trying to repeat words back to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After two and a half years, the family moved once again, this time to Minneapolis, where Omar faced another difficult adjustment: high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot a lot of the kids knew how to coexist with people of a different background, so we created a unity and diversity program,\u201d Omar says. \u201cWe\u2019d have meals together and connect through experiences and stories. I was finally just \u2018Ilhan,\u2019 not \u2018that Somali girl.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>For more on Ilhan Omar, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That United Nations-esque group in high school laid the groundwork for Omar\u2019s future in community organizing and politics, which she continued to nurture\u00a0by\u00a0studying political science and international policies at North Dakota State University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe women and minorities often wait for permission to be invited to something; we need to stop doing that,\u201d says Omar, who managed a 2013 city council race and was hired on to work at city hall in Minneapolis before getting elected by Minnesota\u2019s District 60B in 2016.<\/p>\n<div id=\"yui_3_18_0_4_1483431298292_2195\" class=\"remaining-body\n\n                        \"><\/p>\n<p>While she\u2019s always been passionate about politics, Omar\u2019s fervor has only been compounded since becoming a mother.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy kids are the reason I continue to strive for something better,\u201d she says of her children with husband Ahmed Hirsi: son Adnan, 11, and daughters Ilwad, 4, and Isra, 13. \u201cThey know, as kids who are Muslim, Somali, black Americans, that they\u2019ve always been part of a struggle and that change isn\u2019t easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even so, Omar hopes to use her\u00a0new statehouse position to make a change. And despite the turbulent political year leading up to President-elect <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" data-ylk=\"itc:0;elm:context_link;;\" data-rapid_p=\"9\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/politics\/2016-election-results-donald-trump-voted-president-of-the-united-states\/\" data-ylk=\"itc:0;elm:context_link;;\" data-rapid_p=\"10\">election in November<\/a>, Omar remains hopeful.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_18_0_4_1483431298292_2194\">\u201cI find hope,\u201d she says, \u201cin knowing that I belong to a state that has a lot of people who are champions of change and progress; that we will rise up and fight for justice and equality; that ultimately love will trump hate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; On Nov. 8, Ilhan Omar made history when she was elected the first Somali-American lawmaker in the U.S. \u201cMy election win offers a counter-narrative to the bigotry in the world,\u201d Minnesota State Representative-elect Omar, 34, says in the new issue of PEOPLE. \u201cThis is a land of immigrants, and most come here for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - 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