Ilhan Omar and Nancy Pelosi join forces in Africa after 'send her back' chants

Elise Solé
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar traveled to Ghana this week in observance of the first enslaved Africans brought to Virginia 400 years ago. (Photo: Getty Images)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar traveled to Ghana this week in observance of the first enslaved Africans brought to Virginia 400 years ago. (Photo: Getty Images)

Rep. Ilhan Omar and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are visiting Ghana, with the Minnesota congresswoman tweeting a “send her back” quip at the president.

On Thursday, Omar tweeted photos of her and Pelosi in the western African county, writing, “They said ‘send her back’ but Speaker Pelosi didn’t just make arrangements to send me back, she went back with me. So grateful for the honor to return to Mother Africa with the Black Caucus and commemorate The Year of Return!”

Omar and Pelosi are currently overseas for the 400th anniversary of the first African slaves brought to the United States, according to Quartz, reportedly from the area that is now called Angola.

“Our delegation has been humbled by what we have seen this week,” Pelosi addressed Ghana Parliament on Wednesday. “At Elmina Castle, we saw the dungeons where thousands were grotesquely tortured. At Cape Coast Castle, we stood before The Door of No Return, where countless millions caught their last glimpse of Africa before they were shipped to a life of enslavement.”

“Send her back” is a chant that arose from President Trump’s supporters at a North Carolina rally in July. Trump suggested that Omar and her Democratic colleagues (Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib) "see our nation as a force of evil.”

Trump said Omar “smeared” U.S. service members and “minimized” 9/11 attacks by vaguely stating “some people did something” – comments she made in March when explaining how the Muslim-rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was born.

“Send her back, send her back,” the audience chanted.

According to CNBC, the president later said of the chant, “I was not happy with it — I disagree with it...I started speaking very quickly,” however video footage shows the president silent while his supporters continue the chant.

Per CBS News, Omar said of Trump’s rhetoric, "We have condemned his racist remarks. I believe he is fascist because today even Lindsey Graham defended his comments by saying that if I was wearing a MAGA hat — if there was a Somali person wearing a MAGA hat — they would not be deported. But because I criticize the president, I should be deported?”

Omar added, "And as much as he's spewing his fascist ideology on stage, telling us citizens to go back because they don't agree with his detrimental policies for our country, we tell people that here in the United States, dissent is patriotic here in the United States. Disagreement is welcome, debate is welcomed, and especially in the People's House, all of our voices are heard and we see her. We see me, we see her, we see everyone in this country."

Cardi B., Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke, and Elizabeth Warren all used the #IStandWithIllan” hashtag.

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