Palestinian Women Celebrate Rashida Tlaib’s Swearing-In With Traditional Dress Photos
As new Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) wore a thobe ― a traditional Palestinian dress ― to her swearing-in ceremony Thursday, women responded by tweeting photos of their own thobes in her honor.
Tlaib made history as the first Palestinian-American congresswoman and one of the first Muslim women in Congress, along with fellow new Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Tlaib announced last month that she planned to wear the Palestinian dress to the first day of the 116th Congress.
With the first #Palestinian and Muslim Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib . We out here wearing our Palestinian thobes at the Swearing In, y’all. #tweetyourthobe pic.twitter.com/XcO1JUAYsM
— Rasha (@RashaMK) January 3, 2019
Fellow Palestinian-American Susan Muaddi Darraj decided last month to launch a Twitter campaign #TweetYourThobe in order “to educate others about our culture while we celebrate [Tlaib’s] achievement,” she said.
“I was thrilled to learn Rashida would wear the thobe,” Darraj told HuffPost in an email. She noted that Tlaib planned to wear a thobe from her mother ― just as Darraj’s dress was given to her by her own mother.
“Every thobe has a story, and it’s a story that mothers pass down to their daughters,” she said.
On Thursday, Palestinian women flooded Twitter with their own photos wearing thobes.
Today @RashidaTlaib will be sworn into Congress wearing a Palestinian Thobe just like the one I’m dancing Dabkeh in below— count one young Palestinian woman with a lump in her throat thinking about how far our people have come. #TweetYourThobe pic.twitter.com/mZ0lxGBTgR
— Shezza Abboushi Dallal (@ShezzaADallal) January 3, 2019
#InaugurationDay #TweetYourThobe #EqualityforAll pic.twitter.com/8hOkjskinx
— Maysoon (@maysoonzayid) January 3, 2019
Every thobe is a dress embroidered with the stories, the loves, the tragedies of Palestinian women. The world will never be broken, because we will always stitch it back together & make it beautiful. #tweetyourthobe#palestinianwomen#palestinianamerican#rashidatlaib#congress pic.twitter.com/glNazfgHcL
— Susan Muaddi Darraj (@SusanDarraj) January 3, 2019
Tlaib told HuffPost in August that she was “going to be a voice for” Palestinians.
“I look forward to being able to humanize so many of them that have felt ‘less than’ for so long,” she said at the time.
Tlaib planned to use Thomas Jefferson’s Koran for her swearing-in. Former Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who was the first-ever Muslim in Congress, used the same Koran in 2007.
“It’s important to me because a lot of Americans have this kind of feeling that Islam is somehow foreign to American history,” Tlaib told the Detroit Free Press. “Muslims were there at the beginning.”
Omar wore her hijab for the swearing in on the House floor Thursday ― a first for Congress, which previously banned headwear. Omar is the first Somali-American elected to the body, and one of the newest group of members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the largest in history.
My father and I greeting friends, family, and supporters who traveled across the country to share this special moment with us.#DemsTakeTheHouse pic.twitter.com/eHcHDRSZHu
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 3, 2019
Here are more tweets from Palestinians celebrating Tlaib by posting about their thobes:
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#tweetyourthobe because history is about to be made today with Palestinian American @RashidaTlaib’s swearing in. #tweetyourhijab because @IlhanMN is about to be the first hijabi in Congress 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/cUvvvigEHO
— Rawan Elbaba (@rawanelbaba) January 3, 2019
As the son of a Palestinian mother, its a milestone for Palestinian-Americans to see their culture and heritage reflected in their elected officials. Young girls like my daughter and niece now have officials they can see & aspire to be like one day! @RashidaTlaib #tweetyourthobe pic.twitter.com/zJ9RPuAXPi
— Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) January 3, 2019
#TweetYourThobe so excited for @RashidaTlaib getting sworn in today! Its an inspiration to all us politics lovers especially us Palestinian politics lovers!! pic.twitter.com/G3ST4srS2C
— Renad (@ririfalastine) January 3, 2019
Proud to #TweetYourThobe today. Let’s celebrate the historic victory of @RashidaTlaib ! A proud day for Palestinian-Americans and all those working for a more just and inclusive America. Congratulations @RashidaTlaib ! pic.twitter.com/TwHGWCtxXo
— janeen rashmawi (@RashmawiJ) January 3, 2019
fun fact: my grandmother hand made these for my mother & her sister when they were younger #TweetYourThobe pic.twitter.com/UCLXxdrtUQ
— aloncé (@alaaak_) January 3, 2019
Good Morning and Congratulations @RashidaTlaib ❤️
This thobe, over 100 years old and from Beer ElSabe3, was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. Yalla, #TweetYourThobe pic.twitter.com/bU6e4pKlZo— Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (@LKTuffaha) January 3, 2019
.@RashidaTlaib Four generations of Palestinian-Americans have waited for your arrival. Welcome home. Welcome to the House! #TweetYourThobe #Palestinian pic.twitter.com/hR8WgolTHE
— Zaha Hassan (@zahahassan) January 3, 2019
#tweetyourthobe Congratulations to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib ! A proud day for Palestinian women. A great role model for young girls. God bless Palestine. pic.twitter.com/Z207o4zJPT
— alice muaddi (@umaboud) January 3, 2019
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated former Rep. Keith Ellison was a representative of Michigan; in fact he represented a district in Minnesota. This story also indicated Ilhan Omar represented Michigan instead of Minnesota.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.