Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to give keynote for Wisconsin unity event

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) will join Wisconsin community leaders Sunday in a show of unity against rising intimidation and political violence.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar will deliver the keynote address at the Faith, Unity and Community Gathering Sunday at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee Community Center, 815 West Layton Ave., Milwaukee. 

The four-term U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district has served in the House since 2019. She is the first Somali American in the U.S. Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. She is also one of the first two Muslim women, along with Rashida Tlaib, to serve in Congress and the first woman to wear the hijab on the House floor.

The Faith, Unity and Community Gathering had been planned long before a man attacked Omar last week at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis. However, President Trump has been “demonizing and dehumanizing the Somali-born Democrat from Minnesota, fueling escalating threats against her” for years, the New York Times reported, “venting that she should ‘go back’ to her country, referring to her as ‘garbage,’ and mocking her hijab by calling it a ‘little turban.’”

Omar will be joined by Wisconsin community leaders from diverse organizations in “a show of unity at a time when communities are feeling the weight of rising intimidation, political violence and fear, especially our Black, brown, immigrant, refugee and Muslim communities,” said Fauzia Qureshi, executive director of both the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance and the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Foundation. WMCA, WMCF and ISM organized the event, which includes diverse organizations from across the state. 

“We’re standing with the people of Minnesota,” Qureshi said. “We’re also making it clear that Wisconsin communities are committed to nonviolence, collective safety, civic engagement and protecting the dignity of all people.”

Other speakers include: Angela Lang, founder and executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC); Othman Atta, ISM executive director; Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera founding executive director; Kate Duffy, social media influencer and founder of Mothers for Good; Janan Najeeb, founder of the Muslim Women’s Coalition and Qureshi.

Community partners include: Muslim Women’s Coalition, BLOC, Voces de la Frontera, League of Women Voters, Franklin Leaders of Change, Motherhood for Good, Code Pink Milwaukee, All Voting is Local, Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Milwaukee Turners.

The public event is free but registration is required for the Faith, Unity and Community Gathering Sunday, Feb. 8, from 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee Community Center, 815 West Layton Ave., Milwaukee. Register here.

*Notice: Bags will be checked. No hoods or face covers/masks permitted. Organizers reserve the right to refuse entry to ensure a safe and welcoming environment.

BLOC founder and executive director Angela Lang agreed. “I am excited to join this event, especially right now, when there is so much happening in our country and in our world,” she told WMJ. “What does it look like for a local community to come together when there are a lot of threats, potentially ICE or other hateful activity that could come to our community? 

“Showing a strong display that the Milwaukee community is standing together despite race, that there is a sense of resistance, is really important. 

“Sometimes people are very segregated in Milwaukee,” Lang continued. “I think it’s really important right now to show the opposite, to show no matter what is thrown at us, we’re coming together as a community in this moment.

“We’ve heard of ICE in Chicago and the Twin Cities,” she added. “A lot of us are preparing for the worst-case scenario of some of these actions coming to Wisconsin. We want to make sure we are safe and united locally and also standing in solidarity with folks in Minnesota.”

Standing with Minnesota

“Minnesota and Wisconsin are deeply connected,” Qureshi said, noting Wisconsin has a large Somali community living in Barron, two hours away from Minneapolis. Many Somali American residents in Barron go to shop in the Twin Cities. “Our communities share families, faith spaces, cultural ties and regional history. When people in Minnesota are impacted by violence, we feel those waves immediately,” she said. 

“Somalis have been part of Barron since the late 1990s when they began moving to the city to work at the region’s largest employer, the Jennie-O Turkey Store production plant,” Wisconsin Public Radio reported. Somali American Faisal Ahmed serves on its City Council. 

In early December, when Federal immigration “strike teams” were in Minnesota looking for undocumented Somali immigrants, after President Trump referred to them as “garbage”in a Cabinet meeting and said he doesn’t want them in the U.S., Wisconsin Somali Americans reported feeling “uneasy,” WPR reported.

“We know what’s happening in Minneapolis, and also we know incidents of anti-Somali rhetoric have happened right here in our state,” Qureshi said, citing “the Cinnabon incident,” as it has come to be called.

A Cinnabon employee at a mall in Ashwaubenon, near Green Bay, was caught on a video in December that went viral yelling anti-Muslim and racial epithets at a Somali couple who were customers at the same time President Trump made derogatory messages about Somali Americans The employee was fired and Cinnabon said it did not condone her behavior, said a statement from the company on social media.

Green Bay faith and civic leaders gathered days later for a news conference “to condemn hate and reaffirm the community’s commitment to inclusion,” WLUK reported. At the conference, Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich announced he would introduce a resolution to the Common Council expressing the city’s support for the Somali-American community.

Quereshi and Sheila Badwan, president of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance board and executive director of Hanan Relief Group-Wisconsin Chapter, participated in the Green Bay press conference to show support for Wisconsin’s Somali community, Qureshi said.

At the conference, Mayor Genrich said, “The Somali community, the refugee community, the immigrant community, represent the best of who we are as Green Bay residents, but also as Americans. And I feel very strongly that we have a patriotic responsibility to stand up for our refugee friends and neighbors – our Somali friends and neighbors – in times of need like this,” WLUK reported.