Tehran – A Persian translation of the book “This Looks Like America” by Ilhan Omar and Rebecca Paley was released in Iranian bookstores.
Sepideh Ashrafi translated the book, and Maaref’s publication issued it on 184 pages, Ilna reported.
The book is the origin story of Ilhan Omar, a leader who cannot find a set path to take someone like her to where she wants to go, forced and freed on her own charts. It is an intimate, lively memoir of progressive pioneer Ilhan Omar, the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Ilhan Omar, 42, is an American politician who has been the US representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before the election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019, representing parts of Minneapolis. Her council district includes everything from all of Minneapolis and its first suburbs.
A frequent Israeli critic, Omar supports boycotts, sale and sanctions (BDS) movements and denounces Israeli policy of reconciliation and military campaigns in occupied Palestinian territory, as well as the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in American politics.
Omar is the target of dim-minded comments from political opponents, including US President Donald Trump, and has been subject to several death threats.
She was only eight years old when the war broke out in Somalia. The youngest of seven children, the mother died while Ilhan was still a small girl. She was raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compounds. The house was a direct hit, food became scarce, and 350,000 people died in the first year of the conflict. The family decides to run away from Mogadishu.
They fled to Kenya, where they faced malaria, dysentery and starvation. The family survived in the refugee camp for 334,000 people. Her father discovered that he could go to Norway, Canada, Sweden, or the United States through the United Nations.
Miraculously, a year after their first interview, they were allowed to apply to America. Four years later, after a painstaking review process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia. But then she decided, “My education was given that I was one element of my life in full control and that I was given a long time in detention.”
Penires, 12, spoke only about Somalia and missed out on many years of schooling, so Ilhan decided to roll her sleeves and find an American dream. Faced with many challenges of being immigrants and refugees, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with classmates and communities.
Her next destination was North Dakota State University. After a friend said he was looking for a student and offered a scholarship and “very low cost of living”. After graduating, she returned to Minneapolis, where she became immersed in the Democratic Farmer Workers Party, demanding voters for photo IDs and beating the voting initiative to ban gay marriages.
She understood the story of victory. Both were threats to liberty and civil liberties, and messages in tandem with the colourful and white countryside Minnesotan community. Until then, the match-to-equality initiative had not been beaten. In the same year, Barack Obama was elected president.
Omar was elected to the state legislature in 2016 and then in 2018 she was elected to the US Congress as one of the first two Muslim women in the House. She feared that it would be banned from the floor of the house by ancient rule except for hats. Nancy Pelosi has revised the rules.
A beacon of positivity in dark times, MP Omar survived many political storms, but maintained the grace, wit and love of her signature while speaking to her for her beliefs. Similarly, in documenting her amazing personal journey, Ilhan is not lyrical and sentimental, and her uncontrollable spirit, patriotism, friendship and faith are visible on every page.
SS/SAB