What Ilhan Omar’s removal from HFAC means for American Muslims

Last week, House Republicans voted to strip Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of her House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) assignment for alleged “antisemitism” following her outspoken criticism of the Israeli government and pro-Israel lobby groups. Many commentators, and even some elected officials, however have rightfully pointed out that she was removed solely based on her identity as a Muslim. The whole episode has reminded me that I don’t recall a single day when I scrolled through news outlets or flipped through cable news programs or television shows where my identity as a Muslim wasn’t being assaulted. 

For a brief time following President Obama’s inauguration, I was hopeful the world had changed. Growing up in the 1990s I experienced a media assault on my Muslim identity through films that captured the national imagination like Not Without My Daughter and The Siege which depicted a near future where Muslim men were rounded up and put into concentration camps. The often sensationalized or distorted news headlines strung together amalgamated remnants of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Iran Contra Affair, the first Intifada, and the ongoing multiple Gulf wars. The reporting was often racist and directly impacted Muslim lives in all corners of the world where Western media was consumed. 

Following 9/11, an already difficult situation became a dark cloud impossible to escape, whether at school, work, or the grocery store. My mother became the constant recipient of gun hand gestures aimed towards her while picking us up or running errands in the small midwestern town we grew up in. And travel became an altogether arduous ordeal. Then came the endless deluge of high-production shows like Homeland, Sleeper Cell, Baghdad Central, Threat Matrix, The Agency, and even cartoonish shows like The Alias that deliberately created hysteria about every aspect of a Muslim’s life. 

The next waves of attacks directed towards American Muslims occurred during the Obama presidency and were from US political candidates and elected officials themselves. This coincided with the beginnings of masjids being set ablaze across the country, a phenomenon that has not ceased. Sadly, during President Obama’s presidency, there was little pushback from US political parties or democratic institutions, and the language became more dehumanizing by the day.

Donald Trump came to office during this time and was emblematic of this racist milieu. However, in 2019, flying in the face of a supremacist nationalist president  Representative Ilhan Omar became one of the first Muslim women to be elected to the US Congress, along with Rashida Tlaib. From the start, Omar came under attack by both Republicans and Democrats for her unflinching examination of Israel’s human rights record and the necessity of respecting international law.

Omar’s intellectual vigor brought renewed energy to the House Foreign Affairs Committee at a time in the world that demands a commitment to transparency to restore hope in the democratic processes. Her experiences escaping war and living as a refugee gave her an understanding of foreign affairs issues none of her cohort could contend with. 

For many American Muslims and their loved ones who have been directly impacted by the US military presence in majority Muslim parts of the world over the last 40 years, Omar’s appointment to HFAC represented hope and a US that was on the mend. A voice of the impacted finally had a voice at the table. 

She represented all of us. It was the first time in my life I could see myself in an American elected official, and it gave me a sense of connection to my place of birth which I had longed to feel part of without having to pretend the pain and violence our communities carried didn’t exist. 

Thus, it is an abomination after all it has taken for our communities to show up and be seen for who we are, that Rep. Omar was unceremoniously and insultingly removed from one of the most esteemed democratic committees within US democracy; the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Her removal is a stark reminder that we can never forget where we stand in this country. 

We must never lose sight of our secondary citizenship and continue organizing for greater liberty and equality before the law. This tertiated citizenship affords us less freedom of speech, more policing of our communities, and unending surveillance, a form of psychological incarceration that knows no bounds. It is this diminished freedom of speech accorded to her as a Muslim that cost Rep. Omar. 

The place a Muslim stands in this nation is made clear repeatedly, whether it’s Guantánamo, the separate justice system created by the Patriot Acts that disproportionately impacts Arab, Muslim, and BIPOC communities, or the U.S. Congress. 

I urge all House Democrats to show the strength of your solidarity with Representative Ilhan Omar, and you will unabashedly distinguish your party from the supremacist ideology in your midst. She is one of the most intellectually dynamic members ever elected to US Congress and yet has received less support from her party than QAnon promoter, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Congressional Republicans strongly mobilized around Greene to the point where she’s now normalized as a member of Congress. 

House Democrats have a historic opportunity and responsibility to mobilize party-wide support for Rep. Omar. If the Democratic Party is, in fact, committed to standing against the tide of fascism and white supremacy that has overtaken the House, it must not cede ground to those who decide whether or not they accord dignity to an individual based on their religious identity.  What is at stake are the defining principles of this nation and how they are upheld in the highest realms of U.S. democracy. During this time, you’re not only policymakers; your role is to robustly defend the idea this nation was founded on, freedom of religion and that all humanity is created equal. History will judge your party by where you stand during this time.