Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib spoke at a rally Tuesday on the front lawn of the U.S Capitol, criticizing President Donald Trump’s condemnation of Omar’s 9/11 trivialization.
Barbara Ransby, a professor and adviser to the Movement for Black Lives, along with Professor and far-left activist Angela Davis, were responsible for organizing the anti-Trump event at the Capitol, according to Democracy Now.
The rally was branded “Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar” and was meant to address backlash from Trump and conservatives directed at Omar for her characterization of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon as “some people did something”.
Various speeches were given during the rally by associates of the Black Lives Matter organization, anti-Trump activists and representatives including Tlaib and Omar. During Omar’s speech, she claims that Trump and “his goons in the Republican Party” are threatened by her because of her profile.
“The thing that upsets the occupant of the White House, his goons in the Republican Party, many of our colleagues in the Democratic Party, is that they can’t stand that a refugee, a black woman, an immigrant, a Muslim, shows up in Congress thinking shes equal to them,” she said.
She then goes on to imply that President Trump and his supporters were responsible for the anti-Semitic shooting at Chabad of Poway synagogue. (RELATED: Ilhan Omar Urges Keith Ellison To Investigate USA Powerlifting For Barring Biological Males From Women’s Events)
“The occupant of the White House and his allies are doing everything that they can to distance themselves and misinform the public from the monsters that they created that is terrorizing the Jewish community and the Muslim community. Because when we are talking about anti-Semitism, we must also talk about Islamophobia. Its two sides of the same coin of bigotry.”
“What we are fighting for is not for the few but for the many. Every single one, just this week, when we’ve had the attack in California on a synagogue, its the same person who’s accused of attempting to bomb a mosque,” she continued. Her use of the phrase “same person” is likely in reference to the white, male shooters who have been identified as suspects or arrested in relation to the recent mass shootings at places of worship in Pittsburgh, New Zealand and now, San Diego.
Later in her speech, Omar stated, “This is not going to be the country of the xenophobics; this is not going to be the country of white people. this is not going to be the country of the few, this is the country of the many.”
Time Magazine live-streamed the pre-event display, as well as most of the speeches leading up to Omar’s.
