Diversity In Politics, Muslim American, Muslim American Politician, Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Politics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, The FIVE FIFTHS, FIVE FIFTHS, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D, Willoughby Avenue

These Two Could Soon Be the First Muslim Women to Serve in Congress | The Atlantic

KOLUMN Magazine Posted by: KOLUMN Magazine Staff

Read Time 2 min.

These Two Could Soon Be the First Muslim Women to Serve in Congress | The Atlantic

Amal Ahmed The Atlantic
Ilhan Omar’s DFL primary victory followed a grass-roots campaign that engaged voters beynd the district’s East Africans. MARK VANCLEAVE. Featured Image



[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ashida Tlaib will become the first Muslim American and Palestinian woman elected to the House of Representatives in November—but she’d rather talk about the heavy-duty trucks that roll through her neighborhood in Detroit. Industrial pollution permeates the air and poses serious health risks to her constituents. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]

“My activism was birthed in many ways because of my Palestinian heritage,” says Tlaib, 42, a Michigan state representative. “But air quality and environmental justice—that’s something I’m so passionate about. Growing up in that neighborhood, I thought smelling like rotten eggs was normal.”

Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Muslim American, American Politics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, The FIVE FIFTHS, Willoughby AvenueMichigan state Representative Rashida Tlaib. Image Credit

Tlaib, who won her Democratic primary by exactly one percentage point, won’t face a challenger in the general election. She will most likely share the distinction of being the first Muslim woman in Congress with Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who ran for a seat vacated by Keith Ellison—the first Muslim man elected to Congress in 2006. Omar faces a Republican in the November election, but the district has gone blue since the 1960s, making her the clear favorite.

CLICK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, The Atlantic