Ilhan Omar Quotes

I'm still on the journey to find our America. Although it might not be the reality every day for everyone in this country, the American dream isn't just something immigrants talk about who are coming to or want to come to this land. It is part of the American psyche and ultimately what we citizens of the United States are all searching for.

I want to help all those who feel small to feel large; to give strength to all those who believe they are weak; to make loud those who think they are voiceless. To me, that is the American dream.

My strength doesn't come from a lack of fear but from an overpowering sense of moral outrage.

There has never been a member of Congress who looks or sounds anything like me.

I ran for government precisely to challenge the systemic injustices faced by those perceived in our society as not worthy.

My hijab is a personal reminder of the tension between submission and struggle.

The politics of "moral clarity and courage," which I often reference, includes lending one's voice and listening. There is no way to do the kind of work I do, to have the honest dialogues that lead to solutions to constituents' issues, without bumping into things and hurting others. That's just human nature. Ideally, though, I remedy it. While not popular in the Trumpian vision for America, introspection and contrition are signs not of weakness but of strength.

Freedom of thought and speech-the essence of what it means to be human-is my right no matter the color of my skin or my religion. It's the right of people who speak with accents or whose hair texture is different. Religious minorities, the formerly incarcerated, those without bank accounts or homes, the neurodiverse. No label should rule out participation.

We all have our blind spots.

You can't take away the past; you can only add to the narrative. There is a narrative about Muslims that already exists. I'm not here to undo or rewrite history. That is propaganda or an impossibility. What I, and others, can do is expand on the notion of what it means to be Muslim, continue the story line that survives alongside us.

One of the most toxic misperceptions of my faith is that because I'm a Muslim, I hate Israel and the Jewish people. Although that couldn't be further from reality, whenever I criticize Israel, it is filtered through this lens.

I am a human, not a figurehead.

Living authentically is the best form of resistance.

My brand of optimism is based on my denying myself any sense of victimization and taking comfort in the fact that whatever difficulties present themselves today, they will not exist tomorrow. I believe that by pushing hard enough, you will eventually end up somewhere better. Some have observed that I have an "iron spine." I prefer to see it as a process of figuring out how to channel every challenge into an opportunity. That mentality, which worked in the state house, has always worked for me.

From the Muslim ban onward, I had the painful realization that even though most of what the administration was going to throw at us was very personal in that their proposals would have an actual impact on me and those that I love, I couldn't grieve because I had to show up for my constituents and the country. At least when I was fighting for them, I was no longer afraid.