Ilhan Omar calls out 'offensive' double standard in politics and media

Stephen Proctor

On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Wednesday night, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) called out the racial double standards in Congress and in the media. Omar has been a lightning rod for criticism from conservatives and even from some in her own party over things she’s said, some of which may have been misconstrued, and she believes that may be in part because she’s a minority.

“This kind of double standard really is quite offensive and it’s very much embedded in our culture these days,” Omar said. “You will have people come after minorities for things that they say, that they might have insinuated.”

Omar recently, at the urging of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had to apologize for comments she made that some believed to be anti-Semitic. But she was quick to point out that others, like those at Fox News, seemingly have free rein to say what they like with impunity. She cited Wednesday’s episode of Fox & Friends, in which co-host Brian Kilmeade questioned her loyalty to the United States, asking if Omar “is an American first.”

“No one goes after people like the folks on Fox & Friends that actually say those words,” Omar said. “It’s not about insinuation, right? They actually said that I might not be an American. My loyalties might not be to this country. But I get called out, they don’t.”

Omar’s fellow freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come to her defense in the past, and Omar believes all of her colleagues should join in condemning such rhetoric.

“When you have people on Fox News who question whether I am actually American, or I put America first,” Omar said, “I expect my colleagues to also say, ‘That’s not okay.’”

Omar had another example of a double standard. She received blowback from conservatives earlier this week for calling senior White House adviser Stephen Miller a white nationalist. But Omar recalls Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) doing the same last year and getting very little attention. Pocan, for his part, was quick to come to Omar’s defense.

Of the most recent controversy, contrived or otherwise, Omar said, “Congressman Mark Pocan actually said that. Last year he called Stephen Miller a white supremacist and no one batted an eye. And you see this outrage when I speak the truth. Everyone else’s truth is allowed, but my truth can never be.”

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

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