Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota since January 2019. She came to the U.S. as a refugee when she was 10, her family secured asylum three years later, and at 17 she became a U.S. citizen. She is part of the most diverse group of women ever voted into power in the U.S., and a member of the self-identified “squad” of progressive Democrats which also includes Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). She and Ms. Tlaib are the first Muslim women voted into congress, and Omar is the first woman to wear a hijab on the House floor, the first Somali-American, the first naturalized citizen from Africa in Congress and the first non-white woman to represent Minnesota.

Omar has been the target of many conspiracy theories, death threats, and other harassment by political opponents. The “squad” were singled out in a Tweet by the president as he told them to “go back where they came from” and at a rally Omar was targeted when the crowd started chanting “send her back.”  She has responded in social media by quoting Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, great American female voices of courage and defiance (and subjects of Female Power Project works). We can see how messages from and about female power build a foundation for female power.

I believe Omar’s story is one of the great American stories. She is a refugee who comes to America, works really hard, seizes opportunities, she is scrappy and brave, smart and committed, and loves the democratic process. People hurl abuse at her and call her ungrateful because she thinks America can do better, that there can be better justice for more people in our country, one based on mercy, compassion, and nurturing, not a justice limited by competition and privilege. 

There are several meanings of “represent” I am trying to get at with this print. “Represent” is about who she is, what she stands for, and what she does. As this particular American she is an example of a refugee, an immigrant, a Muslim, a woman, a person with dark skin. Because she is a public official from these intersecting, marginalized communities she never gets to NOT represent these things in our nation. It must be exhausting. Her ability to defiantly meet this challenge is truly a power. She stands for a particular story about what America is: a land of immigrants, of different kinds of people coming together and creating something that is complicated, dynamic, confounding, flawed, and so much greater and more interesting than its constituent parts. And she does her job. She represents the interests of the people who elected her, who sent her to speak for them. (70% of the people in her district are white, by the way.) These are the people who crowded the airport to welcome Omar home to Minnesota after that other crowd chanted “send her back.” She went back home and then she went back to Washington to do her job.

Representation is important. Of the already iconic image captured by Martin Schoeller for Vanity Fair of six new women* in Congress, Joshua Moradel writes, “With 100 women being elected to Congress in 2018, the faces of these six is a clear representation of the diversity that is starting to transform the federal government. … They pave the way for other citizens, regardless of their religion, gender, who they love, or where they come from, to believe someone like them is fighting for their best interest, well-being, and success.”
*the women in the picture are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Deb Haaland, Veronica Escobar, and Sharice Davids. See Buzzfeed, https://www.buzzfeed.com/joshuagmoradel/first-woman-congress-diversity-photo-2019

Design Note

This design is based on Ilhan Omar’s official portrait as a member of congress, photographed by Kristie Boyd. I knew for certain that I wanted to do a print about Omar once I saw this photo, because she is wearing a red, white, and blue hijab for her official portrait. Her hijab is representing her Americanness. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ilhan_Omar,_official_portrait,_116th_Congress.jpg