Ilhan Omar on Thursday became the first member of the US Congress to wear a hijab. She overcame the ban of headwears lasting for 181 years. “No one puts a scarf on my head but me,” she tweeted last November. “It’s my choice – one protected by the first amendment. And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift.”, she said.
Ilhan Omar, 36 years old ,from Minnesota, tweeted: “As a kid, I acted as my grandfather’s translator at our caucuses and he was the one who first sparked my interest in politics. I wish he could be here to witness this historic moment, but he was here in spirit as I placed my hand on his Quran for the ceremonial swearing in”. She is a Democrat, was part of a historically diverse freshman class in the 116th Congress sworn in amid cheers and jubilation.
Omar was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Rashida Tlaib was the second one and she took an oath on Qur’an that belongs to the former President Thomas Jefferson. Tlaib wore a traditional thobe stitched by her Palestinian-born mother. When she stood to cast her vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker, Tlaib’s sons, Adam, 13, and seven-year-old Yousif, were standing by her side. Pelosi was comfortably returned to the post of House speaker. The 78 years-old became the most powerful woman again in American politics.
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