Last night, Ilhan Omar referred to herself as "the first refugee elected to Congress."
Shouldn't Tom Lantos, who was born in Budapest, enslaved in Nazi-occupied Hungary, and, penniless and with much of his family murdered, made his way to the US on a scholarship after the war, count?
Or Rudy Boschwitz, who was born in Berlin and fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1933?
Or no, cuz the international refugee system didn't really exist until after WWII? Seems like a technicality (that erases Jewish suffering and tribulations)
I posted this on FB and someone asked me what my point was. My point is that there are people within US society on the whole and in certain segments of minority communities specifically who, intentionally or not, don't acknowledge historical and/or present-day persecution of Jews
Ok, a few additional comments:
1. This is not (only) about Jews. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who will retire from Congress at the end of this year, is a refugee from Cuba. Joseph Cao is a refugee from Vietnam.
1. This is not (only) about Jews. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who will retire from Congress at the end of this year, is a refugee from Cuba. Joseph Cao is a refugee from Vietnam.
2. There are some pretty gross alt-rightniks who seem to be RTing this favorably as though it says something negative about Muslims. It doesn't. It's amazing that our country welcomes refugees (or used to...), and it's amazing that a female Muslim refugee has found such success.
...but history matters. So let's celebrate Ilhan Omar for what she is: the first Muslim refugee elected to Congress. And let's wish her great success (and, please God, an evolving understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict).
