de Ilhan Omar
""Ilhan has been an inspiring figure well before her time in Congress. This book will give you insight into the person and sister that I see—passionate, caring, witty, and above all committed to positive change. It's an honor to serve alongside her in the fight for a more just world."" —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
An intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar—the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress.
Ilhan Omar was only eight years old when war broke out in Somalia. The youngest of seven children, her mother had died while Ilhan was still a little girl. She was being raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compound and the family decided to flee Mogadishu. They ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where Ilhan says she came to understand the deep meaning of hunger and death. Four years later, after a painstaking vetting process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia.
Aged twelve, penniless, speaking only Somali and having missed out on years of schooling, Ilhan rolled up her sleeves, determined to find her American dream. Faced with the many challenges of being an immigrant and a refugee, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with her classmates and in her community. In under two decades she became a grassroots organizer, graduated from college and was elected to congress with a record-breaking turnout by the people of Minnesota—ready to keep pushing boundaries and restore moral clarity in Washington D.C.
A beacon of positivity in dark times, Congresswoman Omar has weathered many political storms and yet maintained her signature grace, wit and love of country—all the while speaking up for her beliefs. Similarly, in chronicling her remarkable personal journey, Ilhan is both lyrical and unsentimental, and her irrepressible spirit, patriotism, friendship and faith are visible on every page. As a result, This is What America Looks Like is both the inspiring coming of age story of a refugee and a multidimensional tale of the hopes and aspirations, disappointments and failures, successes, sacrifices and surprises, of a devoted public servant with unshakable faith in the promise of America.
""Ilhan has been an inspiring figure well before her time in Congress. This book will give you insight into the person and sister that I see—passionate, caring, witty, and above all committed to positive change. It's an honor to serve alongside her in the fight for a more just world."" —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
An intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar—the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress.
Ilhan Omar was only eight years old when war broke out in Somalia. The youngest of seven children, her mother had died while Ilhan was still a little girl. She was being raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compound and the family decided to flee Mogadishu. They ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where Ilhan says she came to understand the deep meaning of hunger and death. Four years later, after a painstaking vetting process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia.
Aged twelve, penniless, speaking only Somali and having missed out on years of schooling, Ilhan rolled up her sleeves, determined to find her American dream. Faced with the many challenges of being an immigrant and a refugee, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with her classmates and in her community. In under two decades she became a grassroots organizer, graduated from college and was elected to congress with a record-breaking turnout by the people of Minnesota—ready to keep pushing boundaries and restore moral clarity in Washington D.C.
A beacon of positivity in dark times, Congresswoman Omar has weathered many political storms and yet maintained her signature grace, wit and love of country—all the while speaking up for her beliefs. Similarly, in chronicling her remarkable personal journey, Ilhan is both lyrical and unsentimental, and her irrepressible spirit, patriotism, friendship and faith are visible on every page. As a result, This is What America Looks Like is both the inspiring coming of age story of a refugee and a multidimensional tale of the hopes and aspirations, disappointments and failures, successes, sacrifices and surprises, of a devoted public servant with unshakable faith in the promise of America.
Critiques-
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Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar narrates her remarkable life experiences, beginning with her childhood in Mogadishu through her first year in Congress. The first Somali-American and one of two Muslim women elected to Congress, Omar recounts how her comfortable early life was turned upside down at the outbreak of the Somalian civil war. Omar shares her years in refugee camps, her miraculous opportunity to move to the United States, her initial elation at being here, and her growing awareness of inequalities in America. She details her grassroots political efforts to change the disastrous conditions of rampant homelessness, minimal healthcare, and inadequate nutrition among many of her constituents. While the audiobook might have been better served by a professional narrator, Omar's message is important and well worth hearing. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
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May 18, 2020
Minnesota representative Omar debuts with a brisk and forthright recounting of her life story from her childhood in Mogadishu to her first year in office as the first Somali-American, and one of the first two Muslim women, elected to Congress. She movingly details how her family’s comfortable, middle-class existence in Somalia was disrupted by the outbreak of civil war in 1992, and the four years she and her siblings spent in refugee camps before their single father (Omar’s mother died when she was two) won the “golden ticket” of a U.S. visa. Omar recalls her shock at seeing homeless people on the streets of New York City, and spending much of her first year of middle school in detention for fighting. She describes struggling as a teenager to follow her father’s rules, and an emotional “breakdown” involving the dissolution of her first marriage and a yearlong separation from her family. She credits her political philosophy to her experiences as a nutrition educator for underserved communities in Minneapolis, offers incisive rundowns of her early campaigns, and apologizes for the use of an anti-Semitic trope to criticize U.S.-Israeli policy without backing down from her larger point. Polished and frequently poignant, this memoir confirms Omar’s status as rising Democratic star.
