Nation’s First Somali American Woman Lawmaker Harassed in D.C. | DiversityInc

Nation's First Somali American Woman Lawmaker Harassed in D.C.

Published December 9, 2016

By Sheryl Estrada

Ilhan Omar (Twitter)

Just weeks after her win in a Minnesota House race, Ilhan Omar, the nation’s first Somali American Muslim woman legislator, said she endured the most “hateful, derogatory, Islamophobic, sexist” experience of her life.

Omar was visiting Washington, D.C., this week to attend the State Innovation Exchange conference held Monday and Tuesday. It was the first mass meeting of hundreds of Democratic lawmakers since President-elect Donald Trump’s win.

On Tuesday, after a strategic planning session at the White House, Omar took a cab ride to her hotel.

She wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the cab driver allegedly harassed her and threatened to remove her hijab:

Omar has received hundreds of comments of support in response to her posting. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the lawmaker said on Wednesday she planned on filing a report when she returned to Minneapolis.

Omar’s Journey

Ilhan Omar with her family. (Facebook)

In a primary contest, Omar, 34, a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party, defeated DFL Party legislator Phyllis Kahn, who was seeking her 22nd term in the Minnesota House. Omar’s opponent in the race, Republican candidate Abdimalik Askar, who is also Somali American, questioned the truthfulness of her marital history. But Askar wound up suspending his campaign for family reasons. On Election Day, Omar received 80 percent of the vote and was elected the state representative in District 60B in southeast Minneapolis.

Omar and her family fled the Somali civil war in 1991, which led to four years of living in a Kenyan refugee camp. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1995. In her adult life, Omar has been a Minneapolis organizer well versed in business administration and politics. For more than a year, the mother of three has served as director of policy and initiatives of the Women Organizing Women Network. The association advocates for women from East Africa to take on civic and political leadership roles.

Related Story: Post-Election Hate Crimes Roughly Seven Times Higher than Average

According to the latest report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), in just the 10 days following the presidential election, November 8 and 18, there were 49 hate incidents against Muslims. The FBI projected that in 2015, 38 anti-religious crimes, targeting all faiths, occurred every 10 days.

The SPLC also estimated from media reports and submissions to its own #ReportHate page that post-election, there were 40 hate incidents against women. Most of the incidents have occurred in public spaces.

Related Story: Georgetown Report: Trump’s Rhetoric Resulted in ‘Almost Daily’ Attacks on Muslims

In a Dec. 7, 2015, statement, during his presidential campaign, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

The Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University research project, released a special report in May, “When Islamophobia Turns Violent: The 2016 Presidential Elections,” which found that in the days immediately following Trump’s announcement, there were at least 19 documented violent acts across the country carried out against Muslims and perceived Muslims. For the month of December, there were 53 total attacks, of which 17 targeted mosques and Islamic schools and five targeted Muslim homes.

Researchers also uncovered that from March 2015 to March 2016 (the 2016 presidential election season), there were approximately 180 reported incidents of anti-Muslim violence: 12 murders, 34 physical assaults, 49 verbal assaults or threats against persons and institutions and 56 acts of vandalism.

Read more news @ DiversityInc.com

Brooklyn man busted for snatching Muslim woman's hijab, shouting 'Muslims are not supposed to be driving!'

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BYJOHN ANNESE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, December 7, 2016, 10:44 PM

A case of road rage took a hateful turn in Brooklyn, where a man yanked off a 22-year-old Muslim woman’s hijab, police said Wednesday.

“Muslims are not supposed to be driving,” Michail Isakharov, 40, yelled at the woman at the corner of Ave. C. and Ocean Parkway in Kensington about 9 a.m. on Nov. 14.

Isakharov bellowed his hateful message at Gehad Elsayed after cutting the woman off and getting out of his own car, police said.

Elsayed first encountered Isakharov several blocks away, and she thought he just wanted to pull into her lane on Ocean Parkway.

Cops hunt attacker who called Muslim MTA worker 'terrorist'

“All of sudden I notice someone staring at me,” she told the Daily News. She changed lanes to make room, but he followed her, block by block, then cut in front of him, inches from her car.

“And then he gets out of the car,” she said. “He starts yelling, “You Muslims don't drive for a reason! Muslims aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia! Trump is now president, you guys are gonna be moved out of here sooner or later!’”

She pulled out a phone and snapped a picture of both Isakharov and his vehicle, and that enraged him further, police said.

He grabbed her work phone out of her hand and threw it to the ground, and when she tried again with her personal phone, he reached into her car and yanked off the bottom part of her hijab, she said.

N.Y. sees rise in bias crimes following Trump's victory

He then got back into his black Nissan Pathfinder and drove off.

Elsayed gave the photos to police, and on Wednesday, cops arrested Isakharov, charging him with aggravated harassment and criminal mischief as a hate crime.

As of Monday, the city had seen 34 hate crimes since Nov. 8 — more than double the same period last year.

The city has seen a 35% rise in hate crimes, up 361 incidents this year from 267 in 2015, O’Neill said.

NYPD cop attacked with anti-Muslim slurs praised for saving kid

Bias-related arrests also doubled, to 151.

Isakharov’s bust comes a day after NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill asked the public’s help stopping a surge of hate crimes since the presidential election.

“I was born originally in Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn,” said Elsayed, whose parents are of Egyptian and Turkish descent. “When you speak to me, there's nothing different from me and you.”

She lives in Queens and works as a finance manager for a Brooklyn car dealership, she said, graduated with a double major in psychology and business from the College of Staten Island.

Drunk men screaming 'Trump' attack Muslim straphanger, cops say

Elsayed think’s the election, and Trump’s win, has emboldened racists.

“It's become very common and very normal. It's not now once in a blue moon, it's now twice a day in different cities of states,” she said.

On Tuesday, police released a sketch of a man who attacked a Muslim MTA worker wearing a hijab at Grand Central Terminal on Monday morning.

Cops arrested Christopher Nelson, 36, of Bay Ridge, on Sunday for allegedly threatening Alm Elsokary, an off-duty cop wearing a hijab in Brooklyn a day earlier, calling her an “ISIS b---h,” and threatening to cut her throat.

Police have yet to make arrests in another incident last Thursday, when three white men taunted an 18-year-old Muslim woman on an uptown No. 6 platform at 23rd St. and Park Ave.

Yasmin Seweid, a Baruch College student, said the men, who were drunk, shouted “Donald Trump,” called her a terrorist and told her to take the “rag” off her head.

Seweid was also wearing a hijab.

They kept screaming Trump’s name at her during the train ride, she told the Daily News, and then said, “Oh look, a (expletive) terrorist” and yelled, “Get the hell out of the country!... You don’t belong here!”

They then tried to pull off her hijab, she said. Seweid got off the train at Grand Central and reported what happened to police.

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Nation’s First Somali American Woman Lawmaker Harassed in D.C. | DiversityIn.

This would be the least of her problems. She might be investigated for marrying her brother to bring him over here. She might also be investigated for doing a business marriage. Stay tuned.

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

The woman admitted to 2 marriages and could not keep her story straight as to why after these 2 marriages, she went back to live with her first non legal husband, the father of her children. This story broke just after the caucuses in MN.

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

you sound like one ah dem Sandy hook deniers

Deniers

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

False report???

Prove it!

Are you doubting the NYPD?

Are you saying the the Jewish Council is lying?

Wow I never expected you to stoop to this level, accusing the victims of lying.

Chief, you stoop low to entitled your heading as Trump America. This is the reason people will go the extra mile to blame Trump as anti-muslim. 

It is a FACT that America is less tolerant and more divided since the Orange Orangutan won the Election.

And frankly, it is not looking good.

skeldon_man posted:

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

The woman admitted to 2 marriages and could not keep her story straight as to why after these 2 marriages, she went back to live with her first non legal husband, the father of her children. This story broke just after the caucuses in MN.

She will be in trouble and rightfully so if that proves to be true.

Nehru posted:

It is a FACT that America is less tolerant and more divided since the Orange Orangutan won the Election.

And frankly, it is not looking good.

It is not looking good because Trump is clean his house with pinta broom and he have a lot of garbage to throw out. We should go and help him.

Chief, Trump is draining swamp to ketch them packoos hiding in the mud. Lol

Nehru posted:

It is a FACT that America is less tolerant and more divided since the Orange Orangutan won the Election.

And frankly, it is not looking good.

LOL...tell that to Nehru and Skelly....dem bannas cant seem to see that far ahead of them.

Chief posted:

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

False report???

Prove it!

Are you doubting the NYPD?

Are you saying the the Jewish Council is lying?

Wow I never expected you to stoop to this level, accusing the victims of lying.

Chief, not to sound harsh, and I am not condoning any of this shyte, but every ethnic group face some form of discrimination since their existence, be it Africans, Italians, Indians, etc. The problem is these innocent muslims will continue to be victims because of the shyte their own people are doing around the world today. The xenophobia and islamophobia is not being condemned by the majority of Muslims. They wait until something happen and rarely condemn it.

Not true Vish.

I will expound later but  have to head out to a holiday dinner  right now.

Chief posted:

Not true Vish.

I will expound later but  have to head out to a holiday dinner  right now.

Cool

Cobra posted:

These are all false reports. Democrats and their supporters are looking for attention before Trump sworn it. 

Just like the PNC Kick down bandits was all a lie.  Isn't that so?

Even when the people show you bruises you will scream that its a lie. Even when on video.

VishMahabir posted:

 

Chief, not to sound harsh, and I am not condoning any of this shyte, but every ethnic group face some form of discrimination since their existence, be it Africans, Italians, Indians, etc. The problem is these innocent muslims will continue to be victims because of the shyte their own people are doing around the world today. The xenophobia and islamophobia is not being condemned by the majority of Muslims. They wait until something happen and rarely condemn it.

Victor Mahoney if some one mistook one of your kids for a Muslim and insulted them would you come up with this ridiculous rationalization.

Yes I can just see you going to the angry Trump goons and apologizing for arriving in their precious USA and dirtying it up with your presence.

Discrimination of any kind should NEVER be rationalized.

caribny posted:

VishMahabir posted:

 

Chief, not to sound harsh, and I am not condoning any of this shyte, but every ethnic group face some form of discrimination since their existence, be it Africans, Italians, Indians, etc. The problem is these innocent muslims will continue to be victims because of the shyte their own people are doing around the world today. The xenophobia and islamophobia is not being condemned by the majority of Muslims. They wait until something happen and rarely condemn it.

Victor Mahoney if some one mistook one of your kids for a Muslim and insulted them would you come up with this ridiculous rationalization.

Yes I can just see you going to the angry Trump goons and apologizing for arriving in their precious USA and dirtying it up with your presence.

Discrimination of any kind should NEVER be rationalized.

Knucklehead, 

Take your brain our of the sand.

no one is rationalizing this. Muslims also have a responsibility to condemn violence when its always being done in their name all over the world, and as frequently as it is being done. 

For the record, close family members of mine are Muslims. They do it all the time in private, but they are also fearful of the situation now in America with Trump leading the charge. 

VishMahabir posted:

 

Knucklehead, 

Take your brain our of the sand.

no one is rationalizing this. Muslims also have a responsibility to condemn violence when its always being done in their name all over the world, and as frequently as it is being done. 

For the record, close family members of mine are Muslims. They do it all the time in private, but they are also fearful of the situation now in America with Trump leading the charge. 

You are because NONE of the people who are being attacked, many young Muslim women, are guilty of any terrorist behavior, or even condoning it.

There should be NO rationalization. I bet if one of your kids came home and complained that people spat on them and told them to go back to their mud hut in India you wouldn't be so benign.

Many Muslims do in fact condemn terrorist activity and do cooperate with the authorities in providing information. Even in France and Belgium where they is a great deal more anger among most of them than exists here.

Is there a need for more attention to be paid to the more conservative aspects of Islam as practiced in places like Afghanistan. Of course. But most of the people who are being attacked are in fact more liberal Muslims who are making a positive contribution, in fact more so than the louts who attack them.

caribny posted:

VishMahabir posted:

 

Knucklehead, 

Take your brain our of the sand.

no one is rationalizing this. Muslims also have a responsibility to condemn violence when its always being done in their name all over the world, and as frequently as it is being done. 

For the record, close family members of mine are Muslims. They do it all the time in private, but they are also fearful of the situation now in America with Trump leading the charge. 

You are because NONE of the people who are being attacked, many young Muslim women, are guilty of any terrorist behavior, or even condoning it.

There should be NO rationalization. I bet if one of your kids came home and complained that people spat on them and told them to go back to their mud hut in India you wouldn't be so benign.

Many Muslims do in fact condemn terrorist activity and do cooperate with the authorities in providing information. Even in France and Belgium where they is a great deal more anger among most of them than exists here.

Is there a need for more attention to be paid to the more conservative aspects of Islam as practiced in places like Afghanistan. Of course. But most of the people who are being attacked are in fact more liberal Muslims who are making a positive contribution, in fact more so than the louts who attack them.

How many Muslim leaders and which ones condemned the last three attacks in America that were carried out in the name of Islam?

WHich attacks were carried out in the name of Islam recently?

Not because a Muslim committ a crime, it is in the name of Islam

BTW, CAIR and a few others have condemned attacks by Muslims...the media choose not to cover condemnations, because it does not serve their interests

here you go

RiffRaff posted:

WHich attacks were carried out in the name of Islam recently?

Not because a Muslim committ a crime, it is in the name of Islam

BTW, CAIR and a few others have condemned attacks by Muslims...the media choose not to cover condemnations, because it does not serve their interests

I am sure that VishMahabir has seen those condemnations. He must be just playing stupid here. 

Vish Mahabir is just like all the other racists and bigots.

Their common defence is we have family members who Muslims or who are married to blacks.

VishMahabir posted:

 

How many Muslim leaders and which ones condemned the last three attacks in America that were carried out in the name of Islam?

Victor Mahoney here is something that I have been able to deduce. Unlike the Christian church Islam isn't very hierarchical.  There is no pope, or church hierarchy which can loudly convey what the church believes.  It doesn't seem to have high powered spokespersons, at least not in Europe or North America.

Islam seems to be a poorly organized entity with a bunch of imams doing as they wish, most doing good things, but a few not so good.

Now if a Christian cleric misbehaved he could be sanctioned and removed. Apparently this is harder for Muslims, so renegade clerics create mayhem with no consequences. 

It is also harder for the voices of the majority of Muslims to be loudly heard as their isn't a hierarchy or the institutional framework to do so.

But its patently false to say that Muslims don't condemn terrorism. They do but this is not heard.

Having said this Muslims have to develop institutions powerful enough to confront the negative aspects of their religion.  They need to snatch control from Bedouins and put it back into the hands of the modern intellects.

I don't know how they can do this, but I do know that they will have to.

Chief posted:

Vish Mahabir is just like all the other racists and bigots.

Their common defence is we have family members who Muslims or who are married to blacks.

What you say is true but the fact remains that Islam, as practiced in places like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan is barbaric.  That isn't about terrorism but terrorists use these austere and drastic interpretations to justify their brutality.

Modern Muslims need to figure out how to isolate their religion from those who still think that a Medieval interpretation of the Koran is appropriate.

Look at the drastic punishments that LEGALLY can occur in Saudi if some religious law is broken. And don't exclude Saudi Islam because the most drastic people in that tragic land are the religious police who cause many to live in terror.

Modern Muslims need to figure out a way to convey to these primitives that their austere, tribal and archaic interpretations are just not relevant to the modern world. This is as if Spain brought back the Inquisition and sent all "nonbelievers" to the gallows, or if non believes in Boston were hung for practicing witchcraft.

Christianity and Judaism have moved on from the austerity of the Medieval era. Its about time that Islam, as practiced in much of the Middle East, does the same!

VishMahabir posted:

Chief posted:

 

False report???

Prove it!

Are you doubting the NYPD?

Are you saying the the Jewish Council is lying?

Wow I never expected you to stoop to this level, accusing the victims of lying.

Chief, not to sound harsh, and I am not condoning any of this shyte, but every ethnic group face some form of discrimination since their existence, be it Africans, Italians, Indians, etc. The problem is these innocent muslims will continue to be victims because of the shyte their own people are doing around the world today. The xenophobia and islamophobia is not being condemned by the majority of Muslims. They wait until something happen and rarely condemn it.

Because there is much more tacit support than people realize!

caribny posted

You are because NONE of the people who are being attacked, many young Muslim women, are guilty of any terrorist behavior, or even condoning it.

There should be NO rationalization. I bet if one of your kids came home and complained that people spat on them and told them to go back to their mud hut in India you wouldn't be so benign.

Many Muslims do in fact condemn terrorist activity and do cooperate with the authorities in providing information. Even in France and Belgium where they is a great deal more anger among most of them than exists here.

Is there a need for more attention to be paid to the more conservative aspects of Islam as practiced in places like Afghanistan. Of course. But most of the people who are being attacked are in fact more liberal Muslims who are making a positive contribution, in fact more so than the louts who attack them.

This also holds true for the Blacks attacking Indians in Guyana.  I never heard you once condemned any if it, not even Lusignan massacres.  You always try to justify African behavior and blame it on the PPP.

caribny posted:

VishMahabir posted: 

How many Muslim leaders and which ones condemned the last three attacks in America that were carried out in the name of Islam?

Victor Mahoney here is something that I have been able to deduce. Unlike the Christian church Islam isn't very hierarchical.  There is no pope, or church hierarchy which can loudly convey what the church believes.  It doesn't seem to have high powered spokespersons, at least not in Europe or North America.

Islam seems to be a poorly organized entity with a bunch of imams doing as they wish, most doing good things, but a few not so good.

Now if a Christian cleric misbehaved he could be sanctioned and removed. Apparently this is harder for Muslims, so renegade clerics create mayhem with no consequences. 

It is also harder for the voices of the majority of Muslims to be loudly heard as their isn't a hierarchy or the institutional framework to do so.

But its patently false to say that Muslims don't condemn terrorism. They do but this is not heard.

Having said this Muslims have to develop institutions powerful enough to confront the negative aspects of their religion.  They need to snatch control from Bedouins and put it back into the hands of the modern intellects.

I don't know how they can do this, but I do know that they will have to.

This is why I have been leaning more to the idea of the creation of a governing body for the Muslim community. A group with more than one billion will do much better organizationally if they have a global representative body. While still a small percentage, it is still a potentially large number of people who can create mayhem and with governing body to hold them responsible, they can become uncontrollable. But to suggest that the vast majority of Muslims support these militants is unreasonable.

caribny posted:

Chief posted:

Vish Mahabir is just like all the other racists and bigots.

Their common defence is we have family members who Muslims or who are married to blacks.

What you say is true but the fact remains that Islam, as practiced in places like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan is barbaric.  That isn't about terrorism but terrorists use these austere and drastic interpretations to justify their brutality.

Modern Muslims need to figure out how to isolate their religion from those who still think that a Medieval interpretation of the Koran is appropriate.

Look at the drastic punishments that LEGALLY can occur in Saudi if some religious law is broken. And don't exclude Saudi Islam because the most drastic people in that tragic land are the religious police who cause many to live in terror.

Modern Muslims need to figure out a way to convey to these primitives that their austere, tribal and archaic interpretations are just not relevant to the modern world. This is as if Spain brought back the Inquisition and sent all "nonbelievers" to the gallows, or if non believes in Boston were hung for practicing witchcraft.

Christianity and Judaism have moved on from the austerity of the Medieval era. Its about time that Islam, as practiced in much of the Middle East, does the same!

I agree. Unless the Saudis are ready and willing to enter the 21st century, Muslims across the world have to be ready and willing to reject the Saudi dream to return Muslims to the 7th century. 1000+ years ago, Islam was attracted to others because it had the ability to be flexible and adjust to changing times. Today, other communities have zoomed forward while too many Muslims are being influenced to return to the 7th century. Muhammad's teachings don't need the 7th century environment to survive. They can survive even today with no difficulties.

ba$eman posted:

VishMahabir posted:

 

Chief, not to sound harsh, and I am not condoning any of this shyte, but every ethnic group face some form of discrimination since their existence, be it Africans, Italians, Indians, etc. The problem is these innocent muslims will continue to be victims because of the shyte their own people are doing around the world today. The xenophobia and islamophobia is not being condemned by the majority of Muslims. They wait until something happen and rarely condemn it.

Because there is much more tacit support than people realize!

Shet yuh backside bai.