The election of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to U.S. Congress represents a momentous occasion for American Muslims, who have been struggling to defeat some stereotypes.
Omar (D-Minnesota), a Somali-American who came to the United Sates as a refugee, told a celebratory event that her political rise to the U.S. House of Representatives defeats misplaced views that Muslim women have no respectable place or rights.
“As we walked into the United States Congress, we give ourselves permission to be here. We get to decide what we wear when we leave our houses,” she said refuting portrayals of Muslim women as having little rights and far from being independent in a typical Muslim home.
“Our rightful place is also in Congress,” Omar, who wears a hijab, told a jubilant gathering celebrating her success.
Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), an American born to Palestinian parents, also made a statement of diversity, when she wore a traditional Palestinian handstitched intricately adorned black and red dress.
The two women took oath as new members on the Capitol Hill on the Holy Qur’an as members of the House.
Their election has inspired women of diverse communities as indeed have the victories of Latino, African-American and a native woman. The current Congress also gives America a great opportunity to fulfil its promise to equality and diversity.
Tlaib’s Instagram post with a photograph of the dress known as thobe attracted a lot of praise form Palestinian and Arabs with the hashtag #TweetYourThobe.
This really happened. I am U.S. Congresswoman. Not bad for a girl from southwest Detroit who didn't speak English, daughter of Palestinian immigrants.
#13thDistrictStrong: You helped change Congress forever. Now, let's get to work to change our neighborhoods. #rootedincommunity pic.twitter.com/Xz511eIcyg— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 4, 2019
Later Tlaib wrote in Elle magazine that the garment has been an essential for her since childhood. Tlaib calls it “an unapologetic display of the fabric of the people in this country.”
The election of the two American Muslim women has been hailed as a great political moment in terms of the community’s representation. It also says a lot about American’s reaction to the current anti-immigrant political climate and the Trump Administration’s approaching to fixing the immigration.
Today @RashidaTlaib will be sworn into Congress wearing a Palestinian Thobe just like the one I’m dancing Dabkeh in below— count one young Palestinian woman with a lump in her throat thinking about how far our people have come. #TweetYourThobe pic.twitter.com/mZ0lxGBTgR
— Shezza Abboushi Dallal (@ShezzaADallal) January 3, 2019
That Americans remain committed to openness and inclusiveness, gives a lot of hope to diverse communities.
In a year that saw the 2018 midterm polls elect a record 100 women to the U.S. House, election of Omar and Tlaib has a significance beyond the election – a loud statement in the society’s narrative on immigration and diversity.
