Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.Minnesota), shared audio Tuesday of a terrifying death threat that she received after a video posted by far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert, (R-Colorado), made Islamophobic comments regarding her.
Omar played the voicemail — which was laced with profanities and racist slurs — during a press conference in the Capitol aimed at urging the GOP to take action against the Islamophobia within their party. According to the lawmaker, the voicemail was received shortly after she had finished a call with Boebert on Monday. The extremist Republican refused to answer. We are sorry for her commentsInstead, she doubled her bigoted attacks.
Omar was threatened with her life by an anonymous caller during the voicemail. “We see you Muslim and [n*****] bitch. We know what you’re up to. You’re all about taking over our country,” the caller said, which refers to hateful and false conspiratorial theories. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty that will love the opportunity to take you off the face of this fucking earth.”
“You fucking Muslim piece of shit,” the caller continued. “You jihadist. We know who and what you are. You’re a fucking traitor. You won’t live much longer, bitch. I can almost guarantee you that.”
Members of any party should find threats to a lawmaker’s life unacceptable, Omar said. “Condemning this should not be a partisan issue,” she went on. “This is about our basic humanity and fundamental rights of religious freedom.”
The progressive lawmaker has been a representative for many years. received and reported hundredsthreat to her life. These threats often spike after Republican attacks, as they did after Boebert’s attack this week, she said.
Omar shared her personal experience with Islamophobia while speaking at the Capitol. On Her first daySteve King of Iowa was a Republican representative at that time. He implied that she might have explosives because her faith.
“The truth is, is that Islamophobia pervades our culture, our politics, and even policy decisions. Cable news hosts, leading politicians in the Republican party routinely espouse hateful rhetoric about a religion that includes a diverse group of more than a billion peaceful worshipers around the world,” Omar said.
She went on to point out harmful stereotypes about Muslims, including that Muslims want to take over the country and — most pervasively — that all Muslims are terrorists. When Boebert and other political officials spew such rhetoric, Omar said, “it is not just an attack on me. It is an attack on millions of American Muslims across this country.”
“We cannot pretend that this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences,” she went on, pointing to deadly attacksInformation about mosques and Muslim families growing Islamophobic vitriolIn the U.S.
The lawmaker closed her press conference calling on Republican leaders and other party members to condemn Islamophobia and take action against it. Kevin McCarthy, Republican from California, House Minority leader, has so far kept silent on the matter, while his members waged hateful and dangerous attacks against Omar. Even as more videosBoebert suggesting that Omar is a terrorist was discovered, but Republican leaders refused to take any action.
Some Democrats, such as Rep. Jamaal (D-New York), are not. publicly calling for Boebert to be formally punished, Democratic leaders have said that they’re still contemplating the path forward. “We’re considering what action ought to be taken,” House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) told reporters.
Omar shared a voicemail in which the caller used some of the same racist language as Boebert or other far-right politicians. Boebert referred to Omar as being part of the “jihad squad,” a hateful nickname for progressive lawmakers dubbed by Republican politicians. The use of the word “traitor” has also been Pervasive among the rightAnother death threat caller used this word to describe a Republican lawmaker who had voted with Democrats on the Infrastructure bill earlier in the month.
