title:  First Somali Refugee Elected In American History Subjected To Islamophobic Attack
text: On November 8, 2016, Ilhan Omar made history as being the first Somali-American to be elected to any position in America. Hailing from the progressive state of Minnesota, Omar will serve in the state House of Representatives from the 60B district. Running on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Omar supports progressive causes championed by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Omar won with 81 percent of the vote.The former refugee, who escaped her home country only to be trapped in a camp in Kenya for years, made history, and she did it in her own right.Just a few weeks later, she was subjected to a heinous and humiliating verbal assault from a cabby in Washington D.C.Posting on Facebook, Omar recanted the horrific incident: A woman who has worked her way to the top, was elected in her own right to a state legislature, and made history while doing it, found herself a victim in Trump s new America: a country slowly slipping into the abyss of fear and racism.Omar went on to write:I plan to report once I am back home safe in Minneapolis. He knows the hotel I am staying at and [I] don t feel safe enough to say anything at the momentYes, this was an attack. Yes, this was Islamophobia front and center. Yes, Donald Trump owns this. While Americans have shown their hateful colors against Muslims since the attacks on September 11th, the candidacy (and subsequent win) of Donald Trump has seen an escalation of hateful attacks, verbal and physical, against Muslim and Middle Eastern American citizens, and it s only getting worse.In Trump s America, it seems no person of color, no matter how powerful they may be, are safe from xenophobic and racist attack. Omar has been subjected to attack before, in 2014. Yet she has still stood strong.This behavior is not normal, yet the mainstream media has been chillingly silent on what has transpired. The normalization of this ideology is quickly becoming a cancer on society, and bright, up-and-coming stars like Ilhan Omar are the primary targets.We will see in the coming days what action, if any, will be taken against the cabby who unleashed this deplorable behavior. Similarly, we will see if Trump or any of his ilk will disavow. Though we shouldn t hold our breaths.Featured image via Wikipedia