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Activists Around the World: Ilhan Omar · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you a production of iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: Happy New Year, Annie, Auntie, Samantha, and just so I
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  Speaker 2: can get into practice, because we know how well I've
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: been doing with the time and year and such. Today
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  Speaker 2: is as we are recording this January sixth, twenty twenty six. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I got the right year. It still sounds very foreign
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  Speaker 2: to me. This is an absurdity that we are in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. But also congratulations we made it to
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  Speaker 2: this far.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is so much.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, And as we are in the new year,
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  Speaker 2: we are with a new round of a feminist activists
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  Speaker 2: around the World. I am just squishing it all together
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  Speaker 2: because I keep switching back and forth.
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  Speaker 1: I need to ask you about this because I'm the
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  Speaker 1: one that writes the titles and you always change it.
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  Speaker 1: And so I've been using feminists around the world because
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  Speaker 1: you told me that's what you had settled on, and
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  Speaker 1: then the last one we did, you said it's activists around.
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  Speaker 2: So I've been doing activist around the world probably the
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  Speaker 2: last six months, when in the beginning of last year,
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  Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure I said, yes, feminists around the world
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  Speaker 2: that's what we're doing. And then I realize that it
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  Speaker 2: goes beyond this, Like when we're talking about everything, we're
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  Speaker 2: talking about activism, and so I just did a broader
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  Speaker 2: scope of that because I feel like when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to feminism, when we talk about the word feminism, we
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  Speaker 2: know that that word is triggering for many and then
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  Speaker 2: also sometimes it's misconstrued to what we're talking about. As
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  Speaker 2: well as the fact intersectional feminism comes into play that
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  Speaker 2: becomes even longer title. This is what happens with an
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  Speaker 2: over analytical individual takes over a segment annie part like
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  Speaker 2: you know, multiple partners, as well as changing of titles.
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  Speaker 2: But at the same time, I feel like most of
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  Speaker 2: the people would talk about are those who are big
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  Speaker 2: into activism in different ways, and I think highlighting activists
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  Speaker 2: slash activists who are typically feminist is usually one and
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  Speaker 2: the same mm HM is important. But so with that answer,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, Okay, you do you and I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: go with it, all right, all right, So with that introduction,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: you know, that was good to revamp and talk about
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: what the segment is. For anybody who is new to
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  Speaker 2: our show. We do this once a week where we
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  Speaker 2: talk about someone who has or is creating change, whether
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  Speaker 2: it is through activism of some sorts, creating new things, inventions,
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  Speaker 2: doing new types of art as activism. We talk about
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  Speaker 2: all of it, and we love all of it. And
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  Speaker 2: for today we are talking about Representative Elon Omar, who
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  Speaker 2: has been under a lot of scrutiny under this current administration,
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  Speaker 2: but we wanted to take a minute to talk about
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  Speaker 2: her work and how she's been an advocate for so
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  Speaker 2: many marginalized people with her work and contributions. And I
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  Speaker 2: think it's important that we don't forget a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the first that we see today who are with us today,
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  Speaker 2: because we talk about first with our friend Eves, but
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  Speaker 2: typically these are historical figures who are no longer with us.
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  Speaker 2: And a part of the reason we started this segment
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  Speaker 2: was because we wanted to give flowers to those who
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  Speaker 2: are still with us while we can yes, and Representative
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  Speaker 2: Omar has been someone who has been doing this fight. So.
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  Speaker 2: Omar is the second youngest child of her family, who
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  Speaker 2: was raised by her father and grandfather, as her mother
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  Speaker 2: died when she was too They immigrated to the US
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  Speaker 2: when she was a young teen. When her family was
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  Speaker 2: able to get asylum and eventually moved to Minneapolis. Her
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  Speaker 2: childhood helped shape her passion for justice and freedom, and
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  Speaker 2: she's talking about her past experiences. Before moving to the US.
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  Speaker 2: She and her family lived in Kenya in a refugee
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  Speaker 2: camp during the Somali Civil War. And here's a bit
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  Speaker 2: more from a Time dot com article featuring Omar. They
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  Speaker 2: say Omar herself is an immigrant, having fled her civil
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  Speaker 2: war torn home country of Somalia as a child. The
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  Speaker 2: war started when I was eight, says Omar, who recalls
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  Speaker 2: witnessing the terrors of conflict. One night, militia tried to
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  Speaker 2: break into our home and the exterior was riddled with bullets.
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  Speaker 2: My family left our neighborhood, passing through dead bodies and debris.
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  Speaker 2: Not long after, Omar says she and her family left
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  Speaker 2: their home and relocated to a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya.
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  Speaker 2: I no longer had a bed of my own, the
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  Speaker 2: privacy of a shower in my own bathroom. We were
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  Speaker 2: essentially homeless. Omar says. I would fetch water and my
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  Speaker 2: family would reward me with a shilling at the end
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  Speaker 2: of the day. So while I would go see a
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  Speaker 2: movie in the village next door in a makeshift theater
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  Speaker 2: a hut. After four years in the Mombasa refugee camp,
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  Speaker 2: Omar and her family were sponsored to move to the
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  Speaker 2: United States, arriving in New York before moving to Arlington,
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  Speaker 2: virgin where Omar, then twelve, began middle school and I,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I like to see the commonalities like myself.
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  Speaker 2: She learned English within six months. It was a very
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  Speaker 2: quick acclamation and she was able to help her family
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  Speaker 2: acclimate to their new home. Her adjustment came with some
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  Speaker 2: prejudice and racism that she quickly learned to push through
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  Speaker 2: with the support of her family, but with being able
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  Speaker 2: to become a part of our community. She talks about
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  Speaker 2: her high school experience and how it was kind of
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  Speaker 2: a United Nation esque structure and enough to have a
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  Speaker 2: moment where she became Elon instead of being the Somali girl.
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  Speaker 2: So we love that. And when she was seventeen she
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  Speaker 2: became a US citizen. Her family taught her the value
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  Speaker 2: of democracy and even attended meetings with her grandfather, who
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  Speaker 2: was very much a part of that. From her site
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  Speaker 2: Elonomar dot com, they write Elon's love for public service
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  Speaker 2: began at the age of fourteen, when she was an
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  Speaker 2: interpreter for her grandfather at local DFL caucuses, which is
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  Speaker 2: the Democratic Farmer Labor So, you know, watching neighbors come
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  Speaker 2: together to advocate for change at the grassroots level made
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  Speaker 2: Elin fall in love with the democratic process. We love
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  Speaker 2: to see it. She went on to go to college
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  Speaker 2: at North Dakota State University, where she graduated with a
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  Speaker 2: bachelor's in political science and International Studies, and went on
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  Speaker 2: to the University of Minnesota' Humphrey School of Public Affairs
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  Speaker 2: as a policy fellow. She soon started her career as
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  Speaker 2: a community nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota, but
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  Speaker 2: quickly jumped into her political career working as a campaign
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  Speaker 2: manager for Kerrie Dizzick as a Minnesota state representative. She
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  Speaker 2: would go on to manage other campaigns and even serving
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  Speaker 2: as aids for those officials, but she would soon run
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  Speaker 2: her own campaign for the Minnesota House of Representatives in
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  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen. She ran on the DFL ticket, and she
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  Speaker 2: made history as the first Somali America legislator in the
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  Speaker 2: United States. Hello. And to add some more firsts to
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  Speaker 2: the story, she also made history with receiving the largest
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  Speaker 2: percentage of voters of any female candidate in US House
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  Speaker 2: in that state. And in twenty eighteen, she would make
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  Speaker 2: history again as the first woman of color to become
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  Speaker 2: US representative from Minnesota, the first Somali American elected in
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  Speaker 2: US Congress, and alongside with Michigan Representative Rashida Talib, one
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  Speaker 2: of the first Muslim women to be elected into Congress. Hello.
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  Speaker 2: And to add to all those first, she also made
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  Speaker 2: history with receiving the largest percentage of votes of any
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  Speaker 2: female candidate in US history, in state history, so in
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  Speaker 2: that area, and in her victory speech she said this
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  Speaker 2: here in Minnesota, we don't only welcome immigrants, we send
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  Speaker 2: them to Washington. Of course, this was a call out
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  Speaker 2: to Donald Trump, which she was elected during his first administration.
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  Speaker 2: We know how that went down. And again, to add
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  Speaker 2: another first to her story, she would also become the
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  Speaker 2: first person to wear a hajib within the House of Representative.
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  Speaker 2: She was a catalyst in changing the one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: eighty one year old band on headwear in the House
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  Speaker 2: of Representatives. So she had to fight really hard for that,
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  Speaker 2: so she made history again. Of course, her time in
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  Speaker 2: Congress continues to be an uphill battle, as she not
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  Speaker 2: only faces the racist and bigoted attitudes of conservative public,
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  Speaker 2: but also from those who she should be colleagues with.
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  Speaker 2: As she stands firm in her stance on Palestinians, the
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  Speaker 2: anti Muslim rhetoric, and the anti immigration policies, she has
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  Speaker 2: continued to have pushed back and honestly outright attacks against her. Recently,
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  Speaker 2: she claims that her son was stopped by ICE in Minnesota,
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  Speaker 2: which has been an area of targeting and attacks from
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  Speaker 2: ICE and the DOJ under the current administration. Yeah, they
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  Speaker 2: have only amplified their attacks on her and her constituents
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  Speaker 2: and hopes to influence this upcoming election in her area.
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  Speaker 2: Just heads up there, even as far as to use
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  Speaker 2: influencers to spread misinformation about the Somali population and people.
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  Speaker 2: And we already know kind of what's going on internationally.
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  Speaker 2: If you don't, that's another segment that we would have
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  Speaker 2: to get into. But yeah, there's been some interesting work
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to social media and influencers, specifically with
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  Speaker 2: Minnesota and Somali daycares. We don't have time for that,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, it is an attack, of course, knowing that
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  Speaker 2: she was one of the people who led the introduction
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  Speaker 2: of the impeachment against Trump in twenty twenty one. It
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  Speaker 2: isn't surprising to see that she would be under attack,
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  Speaker 2: and it's really gross, like everything that we are seeing
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to Omar is just personal attacks that
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  Speaker 2: one after another with no credibility and a lot of misinformation.
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  Speaker 2: What do you know with the impeachment stuff, we would
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  Speaker 2: love to see that again anyway, It is surprising to
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  Speaker 2: know that with all the difficulties she's gone through, she's
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  Speaker 2: also been recognized for her hard work, including being named
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  Speaker 2: at Time Magazine's first Women Who Are Changing the World,
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  Speaker 2: which was in I believe twenty nineteen, and she has
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  Speaker 2: been given leadership awards for her work in Minneapolis. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure there's gonna be so much more coming from her.
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  Speaker 2: She has. It feels like she's one of the few
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  Speaker 2: candidates that kind of stands alone against the big political machines.
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  Speaker 2: That's just really gross to see, like disheartening on every side.
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  Speaker 2: So it's lovely to see someone who is willing to
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  Speaker 2: push back as hard as she has.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and I'm sure we'll have more to say about
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  Speaker 1: her in the future, but for now, if you have
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  Speaker 1: any thoughts or suggestions for this segment. Whatever it may
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: be titled, please let us know. You can email us
• 10:46
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• 10:57
  Speaker 1: your books. Thanks as always, too, super produce Christina or
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: executive producer of my Er conturutor Joey, Thank you and
• 11:03
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