“I Don’t Let Bullies Win”: Rep. Ilhan Omar Isn’t Letting the Man Who Accosted Her Stop Her Fight
Democratic United States Representative Ilhan Omar was attacked during a public speaking event in Minneapolis. As she was speaking, a man approached the podium and sprayed her with an unidentified liquid.
Security wrestled the man to the ground, though the response time wasn’t quite immediate . People on social media have pointed out that Omar herself approached the man to get in his face after he said something to her while spraying the liquid. The entire ordeal spread over social media very quickly and Omar decided to respond to all the people out there wondering if she was alright after this exchange.
On X, Omar wrote, “ I’m OK. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win period to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.” All of these words back up her larger tone over the last few days. During a press conference at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis, she explained her stance to the reporters there. (Credit to FreedomNews.tv for the footage.) The rhetoric continues to escalate from online sources. But, the Representative isn’t swayed by that bluster.
“Well, I think my presence here should tell you that the fear and intimidation doesn’t work on me… The attacks from [President Trump] since I’ve gotten into public office from the right wing has always been to really stop me from being in public service,” Omare elaborated. “To intimidate me. To make me want to quite .And my only message is, it hasn’t.”
Ilhan Omar okay after weird spraying incident
It’s good that the Representative is unharmed after that encounter. But, it highlights a civic reality that affects everyone from the halls of Congress to the streets of any city in the union. Namely, people are acting bolder because of the stark rhetoric coming from their leaders. The bigotry directed at Somali-Americans from government social media accounts is far afield of any official statements directed at minorities in the last half century. A lot of citizens have hoped that the President and others in the administration would listen to the public outcry against ICE. But, they have no desire to relent on their campaign of occupying cities at the moment.
Trump will respond to questions about seeing the video in an interview with ABC News. He told the publication, “ No. I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud. I really don’t think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” Then ABC asked if he has seen it directly and the President responded, “I haven’t seen it. No, no. I hope I don’t have to bother.”
These sort of statements are the exact kind of inflammatory rhetoric that Omar pointed out in that press conference after the attack. While people on the ground in Minnesota are still hurting after the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, There has been no attempt for most politicians in the Republican caucus to defuse the situation in a way that addresses the requests from residents on the ground. Taking a look at any poll surrounding the issues with ICE right now shows historically low support for these actions on Minnesota streets. But, it’s not just that, it’s everywhere. We’re at a strange point in the nation’s history, and anything can happen at any time.
(featured image: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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