There has been this ‘overstatement’ that has been doing rounds that goes ‘when the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.’ Well, lately (actually since 2016) the U.S. has been coughing out a lot of prejudice, xenophobia, racism, and outright negative biases against the Islam religion. Well, that is the politics of the day, which we are going to leave to the political pundits to ponder upon.
However, there is a new political development in America that must pick your interest. If you are a champion for gender equity, diversity, and inclusion of the minority group. The U.S. is currently buried in political activities with the ongoing primary elections; which is seen as a litmus test for the Donald Trump-led administration. An administration that has elicited strong feelings in matters surrounding tolerance to a different race, religion, and respect for women [assheeew…. groping women].
Well in the Democratic primary in Minnesota 5th congressional district, Ilhan Omar (36) could well be on her way to joining Congress. What makes Omar win so special is the fact that she is a woman; and not just any woman, a black woman. But that’s just the surface of things that make this candidate interesting.
Omar is also immigrant who is originally from Somalia, who had to flee her home country and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the U.S. In a nutshell, she is a refugee, Muslim immigrant, all the things that the Trump administration seems to be all up in arms fighting against.
It is important to note that about two days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump was in Minnesota and while addressing his supporters. He faulted the state of Minnesota for allowing in too many immigrants from Somalia.
He said, they came here “without your knowledge, without your support or approval, and with some of them then joining ISIS and spreading their extremist views all over our country and all over the world.”
Fast forward two years later, the state of Minnesota seems not to agree with the POTUS’s views, and they voted in a Muslim black woman from Somalia, in the Democrat primaries. Omar could well be on her way to Congress, given the history of Minnesota always going the Democrat way.
Some political pundits were of the view Trump’s comment in the 2016 campaign trail in the state of Minnesota was outright “dangerous” to the Somali-American citizens living there. About 150,000 Somalis are living in the U.S. according to stats by the UN; most of the Somalis live in Minnesota compared to any other state.