Politics is certainly a contact sport, but for Rep. Ilhan Omar it\u2019s turning into a blood sport and we must speak out in support of Minnesota\u2019s Fifth District representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we say support, we don\u2019t have to necessarily support her every stance \u2013 though she is bringing several critical issues to the forefront \u2013 but we must support her right to speak out \u2013 and ultimately, to legislate. Most importantly, we must call out these white nationalists and other Islamophobic hate mongers, whose vitriol has led to a bombarding of the freshman congresswoman with credible death threats. Equally, we must call out those on both sides of the isle who have either remained silent or haven\u2019t spoken out in the most vociferous tone to condemn the sources of this animus. And sadly, yet not surprisingly, a great deal of this venom comes from our nation\u2019s president, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest round of death threats comes following a Trump April 12 tweet. Yes, the latest round; a man, Patrick W. Carlineo, 55, was charged with threatening to \u201cput a (expletive) bullet in her head\u201d during a March 21 call answered by an Omar staffer. Trump\u2019s tweet is a video montage that begins with Omar, who is Muslim and Somali-born, speaking during an event sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) saying, \u201cCAIR was founded after 9\/11 because they recognize that some people did something.\u201d Then the video goes to show images from 9\/11 including one of the planes used to carry-out the terror attack crashing into the World Trade Center and clips of the towers collapsing. The video flashes back to Omar saying, \u201csome people did something\u201d and is followed by text reading, \u201cSome people did something?\u201d The video \u2013 viewed more than 10 million times \u2013 ends with the words, \u201cSeptember 11, 2001, we remember.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, indeed, we do remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Omar was incorrect in the founding of CAIR\u2013 CAIR was founded prior to 9\/11, as some on the far right have been pointing out, attempting to cutdown the congresswoman at any turn \u2013CAIR refocused its energies to further combat Islamophobia following several violent incidents upon Muslims. But Omar was more than correct in stating that \u201csome people did something.\u201d Again, we remember. We remember those \u201csome people\u201d were identified as Saudi nationals, and as you know, Trump is closely (maybe too closely) aligned with the Saudis. And if your argument for Trump\u2019s buddy-buddy relationship with the rich Saudis is, \u201cWell it wasn\u2019t all<\/em> Saudis,\u201d I totally agree. The same way it was \u201csome people\u201d when these racists and xenophobes holler, \u201cMuslims were behind 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, it\u2019s not the \u201csome people\u201d that has you all hot and bothered? It\u2019s the \u201cdid something?\u201d To quote Jules from \u201cPulp Fiction,\u201d \u201cWell allow me to retort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happened on Sept. 11, 2001 was horrific \u2026 the greatest single-day tragedy on American soil. We also remember the many atrocities committed by Americans during the era of slavery and Jim Crow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the United Nations, some 17 million human beings were enslaved during the 400-year period of slavery and according to the \u201cEncyclopedia Britannica\u201d it\u2019s estimated that 25 percent died during the transatlantic slave trade. That\u2019s just during the period of slavery. It\u2019s estimated that some 4,500 Blacks were lynched in America from 1877 to 1950. That\u2019s just lynching \u2026 not death by beatings (see Emmett Till), death by bombing (see 16th<\/sup> Street Baptist Church), death by bullet (see the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., et al.) and death by a combination of lynching, beating, bullet and bomb (see Black Wall Street\/Tulsa, Okla. massacre). Let us also remember the wiping out of some entire indigenous nations, with more than 150 massacres documented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So yeah, \u201csome people did something.\u201d And it was horrific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And again, we remember. We remember right-wing darling Alex Jones said 9\/11 was an inside job. And remember, Jones is a man who Trump has lauded with praise. So, who are these \u201csome people?\u201d Is it \u201cthe Muslims\u201d or the American Government? You can\u2019t have it both ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well according to at least one Trump supporter who spoke to a Unicorn Riot<\/em> reporter at an April 15 Trump rally in Burnsville (the video is posted on the Insight News<\/em> Facebook page), \u201cthe truth is 9\/11 was Muslims \u2026 Muslims did that. You know it and I know it. And Ilhan Omar, she wants to infiltrate our government just like (Attorney General) Keith Ellison (who is also Muslim). But you wanna know who did this? (former president Barack) Obama. Obama did this to us. He brought 80,000 Muslims to Minnesota against our will \u2026 against our will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To a rational thinking person that\u2019s \u201ccrazy talk.\u201d But unfortunately there are a lot of crazy talkers out there. The person known as Individual One in a criminal indictment is one of them. And he provides cover for all the others who espouse hate cloaked as patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seriously folks, doesn\u2019t this scare the mess out of you? It does me. I\u2019m sure it does the congresswoman too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since taking office Omar has yet to hold a town hall or community meeting in her district \u2026 with her constituents. I can\u2019t say what are her exact reasons for not being in public spaces with her constituents, but I can hypothesize. I\u2019m sure she, an affable and gregarious woman, would love to be out in her district, talking to the people she was elected to serve, but instead she\u2019s having to talk to the FBI about her security detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a resident of Minnesota\u2019s Fifth Congressional District. Omar is my representative. I want my representative to be able to speak directly to me and the 677,000-plus other residents of the district. We deserve that. And we deserve to do so knowing our representative and those who want to dialogue with her directly are not in harms way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I said at the onset, politics is a contact sport and we want to be able to have contact with the person elected to serve our district. Politics should never be a blood sport. Enough blood has been shed to last a thousand lifetimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Omar, we support you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Politics is certainly a contact sport, but for Rep. 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