Why the "I Stand With Ilhan Omar" Hashtag Has Been Trending on Twitter
House Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota was just sworn into Congress this year, but she's already a name America knows. The freshman Congresswoman has also been someone President Donald Trump has targeted on his well-known Twitter account. On Friday, Trump tweeted a spliced video of Omar speaking at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in March about how terrorism leads to Islamophobia. The footage was edited against images of the 9/11 attacks. Trump wrote "we will never forget" in his tweet of the video.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
NPR pointed out that Omar's full unedited quote from her speech at CAIR read: "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."
Following Trump's tweet, Omar's supporters took to Twitter to express their support. Those publicly in Omar's corner include Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).
Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won't back down to Trump's racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end.
- Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 13, 2019
Members of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack today.@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress.
We must speak out.
“First they came...” pic.twitter.com/ygOX1vhE9j- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 12, 2019
The President’s use of 9/11 to attack @IlhanMN is dangerous and irresponsible, and part of a pattern of fanning the flames of hate against Muslims.
Using the emotions and tragedy of 9/11 to score political points is beneath the dignity of any president. At least it should be.- Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 13, 2019
The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman-and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. It's disgusting. It's shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it.
- Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 13, 2019
Away from Capitol Hill, other well-known names showed their support.
What she said. #IStandWithIlhanOmar https://t.co/jgWjlkMG1I
- Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 13, 2019
Trump is engaging in blatant Islamophobia by taking a comment by @IlhanMN out of context in order to smear her with the worst stereotypes. He is likely also endangering her life, as she has already been target of death threats. @jack @Twitter how long will you allow incitement?
- Rabbi Jill Jacobs (@rabbijilljacobs) April 12, 2019
This is from last month. I was just thinking about it today. Because of course I stand with Ilhan Omar.
- Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) April 14, 2019
Omar did not respond directly to the president's tweets, but she did write a tweet to thank everyone who supported her on social media.
"No one person-no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious-can threaten my unwavering love for America," she wrote. "I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans."
I did not run for Congress to be silent. I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy.
- Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 13, 2019
Omar is the first Somali-American lawmaker in the U.S. In September of 2018, she spoke with ELLE about the significance of this achievement.
"I have a great sense of who I am," she said then. "I am very focused on creating positive change. And unless someone is a willing contributor to creating that positive change, their feedback or criticism, especially criticism that is about my personal life and the way that I live my life or the way that I dress or who I worship, has no actual bearing on the things that I take into consideration and the decisions that I make."
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