Ilhan Omar Profile picture
May 29, 2018 8 tweets 3 min read
Home
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath

#home #warsanshire #poems
#WhereAreTheChildren
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison, because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go hom
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival ismore important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here

#home #warsanshire #poems

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More from @IlhanMN

Feb 4
Amir Locke had barely opened his eyes when he was executed by a Minneapolis Police officer. He was 22 years old. And now, because of the violent, unchecked, and unreformed behavior of our city’s police, his life has been taken.
Once again we’re left only with the empty words of police and the Mayor. Words that, at best, are meant to mislead the people of Minneapolis, and at worst are quite simply lies aimed at portraying Amir as a criminal.
The Mayor ran for reelection on having ended no-knock warrants. Amir was killed in a no-knock raid.

Read 12 tweets
Nov 2, 2021
It’s Election Day in Minneapolis! For our city, this'll be one of the most consequential elections in recent memory.

We have the chance to plot a new way forward. But we have to show up.
Polls are open from 7:00AM until 8:00PM. You can register at your polling location, and if you’re already registered, no ID is needed.

To find your polling place:

vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/where-t…
Minneapolis uses ranked choice voting, which means you get to rank your choices for a given office. It can be complicated if you’ve never done it before. Here’s a short primer:
Read 15 tweets
Oct 28, 2021
Let’s have an honest accounting of what is really happening with these ever evolving negotiations. First, instead of centering the needs of the American people, corporate Democrats have purely been about lining the pockets and serving the interests of the donor class.
If you really want to know why a provision is being killed, all you have to do is follow the money…
The US Chamber of Congress—the face of corporate greed—is working over time to kill the bill, and already spent $30 million this year on lobbyists, along with a six figure ad campaign. opensecrets.org/federal-lobbyi…
Read 12 tweets
Oct 26, 2021
The election next week in Minneapolis is no less than a fight of hope vs. fear, of maintaining a broken status quo that killed George Floyd or taking the path of reform.

I want to share some of my thoughts to cut through the dark money and misinformation.
Let’s remember what got us here: the Minneapolis Police Department killed a man, George Floyd, in broad daylight.
Instead of heeding the calls for reform, the Department and their union have fought tooth and nail to defend the officers who murdered George Floyd and stymie efforts at reform, often with the tacit approval of Jacob Frey.
Read 18 tweets
Oct 12, 2021
Minneapolis' elections are in just a few weeks. I wanted to put together a handy guide for Minneapolitans heading to the polls. We've got info about ranked-choice voting, the charter amendments, and candidates for City Council.

You can share this out at ilhanomar.com/voterguide/
You can vote on Election Day - Tuesday, November 2nd - or early! I love how easy Minneapolis makes it to vote. For a complete guide on early voting, visit vote.minneapolismn.gov.
Minneapolis will have the chance to vote on a number of crucially important amendments to our city's charter. I strongly support both the public safety and rent stabilization amendments. VOTE YES ON QUESTIONS 2 AND 3!
Read 5 tweets
Sep 23, 2021
Given the human rights violations in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah, and ever-growing settlement expansion, we should not be ramming through a last-minute $1 billion increase in military funding for Israel without any accountability.
As my colleague, @BettyMcCollum04 has pointed out, this language was added without the knowledge or consent of relevant committee chairs or proper budgeting.
This vote is not about simply funding the Iron Dome. It’s about adding an extra billion dollars on top of the $73 million we already allocated this year. That’s 14 times more than we normally spend on it and 60% of what we’ve provided for it over the course of a decade.
Read 8 tweets

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