Hafeezat Bishi

Ilhan Omar: A New Target in Congress

Muslims have come under fire more than ever before under the recent presidential administration. Hate crimes have increased significantly, and visible Muslim women are more prone to attacks. As of 2017, 68 percent of Muslims said they’re worried about Trump, many believing him to be unfriendly towards Muslims, causing the majority of them to be dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed towards. There has also been a 19 percent increase in hate crimes as of 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. It can be concluded that those who are Islamophobic have felt enabled and/or empowered by the language President Trump has continuously used during his campaign, as well as his administration. There is also an increase of racial hate crimes occurring, and with the coming of the Black Lives Matter movement and the use of social media, there has been more visibility of these crimes—which can be either verbal, physical, or both. Black Muslims face the intersection of anti-blackness and Islamophobia, a dual attack against their livelihood and what is happening to Representative Omar is just one of many examples. It is a large display of what happens to Black Muslim women on a daily basis. Whatever spaces they find themselves in, they have to continuously fight to be heard and to be taken seriously, whether it’s Halima Aden on the runway or Ibtihaj Muhammad in the Olympics. I sympathize with Representative Omar for what she is and may continue to deal with during her tenure in office. Because this won’t be the last time she or her stances are questioned and attacked.