Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib claims she and other progressive Democrats are “ignored’ by the party’s leadership who use them as diversity props in photo ops. She tweeted Saturday that the party should “never silence us.”
Tlaib said that “[The Party Leadership] put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse. However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us.”
Rep. Ilhan Oma (R) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib attend a news conference where House and Senate Democrats introduced the Equality Act of 2019 which would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, on March 13, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse. However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us. https://t.co/7T1OlwS1YG
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 13, 2019
Tlaib was responding to a tweet that suggested the “attacks on @IlhanMN and subsequent lack of support from Democratic leadership continues to prove that this system was never meant for us.” (RELATED: Rashida Tlaib’s Ties To Anti-Semitism Run Deeper Than Previously Known)
The attacks on Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar have recently focused on her description of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as being a case where “somebody did something.” Omar made the remarks at a Council on American-Islamic Relations conference.
Tlaib was quick to defend Omar’s comments, claiming her words were taken out of context and that criticism was “racist.” (RELATED: Omar Says People ‘Go After’ Her More Than The Hosts Of ‘Fox & Friends’)
“Taking it out of context, this is just pure racist act by many of those, hateful acts, by those because she does speak truth, when it talks about different issues that they don’t disagree with,” Tlaib said. “I’m really outraged.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) questions Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, as he testifies before a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Feb. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts.
Despite Tlaib’s concerns about being silenced by her party leadership, the congresswoman was not disciplined when she referred to President Donald Trump as a “motherfucker” and promised that he would be impeached.
