Yeni Şafak English

US elects first legislator wearing headscarf

Ersin Çelik
09:019/11/2016, Wednesday
U: 9/11/2016, Wednesday
Yeni Şafak

Ilhan Omar, elected from Minnesota, makes history as being first Somali-American, Muslim woman legislator

The United States has elected its first legislator who wears a head scarf in this Tuesday's much-awaited Presidential, Senate and House elections.



Ilhan Omar made history as being the first Somali-American, Muslim woman legislator to win a seat in the House of Representatives. Omar was elected from the mid-west state of Minnesota.



The victory of 34-year-old Muslim-American woman who wears the hijab is significant in the U.S. elections.





Born in Somalia, Omar, and her family escaped civil war and lived for four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before ultimately moving to the Somali-American neighborhood of Cedar-Riverside, where she has lived for nearly two decades and is currently director of policy initiatives at Women Organizing Women, according to local media.



The Women Organizing Women Network is a group dedicated to pushing East African women into civic leadership and is credited with being a talented organizer and leader of a multiracial coalition that includes Minneapolis progressives.











#Ilhan Omar
#headscarf
#lawmaker
#US
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