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Ilhan Omar speaks to her own people, in her own language, and she is getting blasted for it.
The video itself, from what I think is the most original source I could find.
The headlines I've collected:
Ilhan Omar Deportation Calls Grow From Republicans
'Squad' member grilled for remarks about allegiance: 'Somalians first, Muslims second'
Rep. Ilhan Omar Faces Backlash on Social Media Following Viral Speech on Somalia
From her own, preferred, translation:
Nothing here is news to me. I also think Omar should be expelled from Congress and deported, but that's because she's committed immigration fraud to bring her brother into the US by posing as his wife. It's always been obvious to me that she's simply not American, will never be American, and can never be American. She's Somali, and here, in her native tongue, talking to her coethnics, she admits as much. Look at her preferred translation again, and consider who she lumps herself with.
This is the part that has been translated into Somalis first, Muslims second, and Americans not at all (emphasis mine). She does, eventually, say Minnesotans:
The video subtitles do not translate Minnesota, but it's clearly recognizable (sounds like "rare minnesoto" at ~1:38).
The "brothers and sisters" refers to Somali muslims, not the Scandinavian or German ethnics who have been in Minnesota for generations, those who are being replaced by Omar and her ilk. Not the yankees who moved west from New York and Pennsylvania. Solidarity is for blacks and muslims, not whites, not Americans.
I'm not trying to hide my biases here. I've long thought it obvious that this woman was a foreign agent, representing foreigners in the US congress at the expense of Americans. That offends me deeply. I can't even call her disloyal, because she's very clearly loyal to who she considers her own. I'm glad more people are noticing, and I hope that she is punished for her misdeeds eventually. I simply wish I could say, America for the Americans, our lands will not be taken from us, but I unfortunately that sentiment is only available for foreigners.
Hopefully Tlaib is next.
I am not a fan of Ilhan Omar. I'd even go so far as to agree with you if you speculated that she probably feels more loyalty to Somalia than the US and does not, in her heart of hearts, really feel an allegiance to the Constitution. But that would be speculation; neither of us really knows.
That said, this is appears to be an attempt by her enemies to willfully read the worst possible interpretation/translation into her words. Even if "Somalian first, Muslim second" really is an accurate translation of her words, that isn't the "gotcha" admission that she doesn't consider herself American or loyal to America that it's being represented as. I am sure I've heard similar statements of ethnic solidarity from other politicians.
One would at least think this debunks the idea that she’s a radical Islamist; a radical Islamist would of course put nothing over Islam.
This just sounds like excuse making for a respectable 'grey' position. In any other case we'd be able to recognize that there are plenty of people with strong beliefs that fail in living up to their beliefs every single day of their lives. Be that not going to church, drinking alcohol or any other example you prefer. And we could all recognize that this failure does not need to, in any way, deter these people from pushing their beliefs on society. Be that legislatively or otherwise. But because the red tribe correctly sees the likes of Omar as obvious 'enemies', we, the respectables, have to distance ourselves from that in some way.
I only say this because the excuses in use here are so poor I can't see what else it could be. As an illustrative example, a nationalist in Poland could say 'I'm Polish first, Christian second' and we could all recognize that the ethnic and the religious, whilst often closely related, are not the same and no one would feel the need to question his anti-abortion pro-Christian social policies in Poland just because he said this. Yet somehow, in the case of Omar, we act not just as if her saying this is meaningful, we drag red tribe terminology like 'radical Islam' into our writing and purposefully distance ourselves from it.
If there is a reason for the ‘red tribe’ to dislike Omar’s politics it’s because she’s a progressive who proudly represents a largely unassimilated migrant community, not because she’s an Islamist. She’s not ‘worse’ than AOC because she’s Somali instead of Puerto Rican. It’s likely that as with Tlaib her communal origin affects eg her views on Israel, but there are plenty of white progressives with the same views on that subject too.
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She’s married to the white guy she cheated on her husband with (and who, afaik, did not convert to Islam) and barely even covers her hair, the suggestion she was a radical Islamist is pretty ridiculous.
I always suspected she covers her hair mostly out if vanity (she suffers some form of alopecia based on old photos).
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Examples?
I can only think of examples from overseas, and all of them have come to my attention because of Western (more progressive than not) backlash against the statements. One place I would've expected ethnic messaging is in Wab Kinew's victory speech (the first Native American Premier in Canada), but the closest he got was (paraphrasing from @2:53)"I want to speak to young [Native American children]. I want to speak to all youth, and people of all ages, but young [Native American children] in particular:..."
Remember Mike Pence's catch-phrase?
"I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican - in that order."
That sounded to me like a statement that his solidarity with Christians overrides his solidarity with conservatives, and that this overrides his solidarity with his party.
Or do 'Christians' not count as an ethnicity in this context?
But if you want national or ethnic identity specifically, as far as I can tell foreign-born congressmen do often play that card? For instance, Ted Lieu was born in Taiwan, and he advocates on Taiwan's behalf. Young Kim was born in Korea and she describes herself as a "bridge builder between our two countries", and appears to advocate for greater US-Korean cooperation, apparently "lobbying the Biden administration to ensure countries that have free-trade pacts with the U.S., such as South Korea, receive better treatment under laws that award special benefits to domestic companies". That sounds like some kind of solidarity with the nation of her birth? Raja Krishnamoorthi seems to recommend strengthening the US-India relationship, including bringing India into NATO PLUS.
It doesn't seem that rare for US politicians born in other countries to retain a level of interest in their home country, and to advocate for that country's interests in partnership with the United States.
Even if Christians were to count as a quasi ethnic group, they are one that is more integral to American-ness.
On the opposite side a Muslim is a more foreign identity.
This isn't to say that prioritizing Christianity too much can't be even be considred treasonous to a country. For example someone supporting open borders with Christian countries that would result in the replacement of the people with foreigners.
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Isn't that just a rendition of "God, guns, and government" - a party slogan or credo, but with the blanks filled in?
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The categories he highlighted (religion, political philosophy, party membership) are perfectly compatible with being American. I'd have some issues if he recognized the divine authority and infallibility of the Pope, but I don't think that has happened.
As for placing his party last? Meh. Politicians playing political games within the structure of a political event. I'd like my representatives to be loyal to the party I vote for, but that's merely a practical stance. It's not like I'd want Alain Rayes charged with pseudo-treason for leaving his party.
I don't have any problem with Americans pushing for better relations with Taiwan, South Korea, or any other country. It doesn't matter if their hobbyhorse happens to line up with the country of their birth, either. Neither of your links had any suggestion that they were anything but American.
Omar's speech sets herself up as a Somalian who happens to live in the US. She calls Somalia "our country", while she merely "live[s] in this country." when talking about the US. She frames President Hassan Sheikh as the leader of an ethnostate that she (and the audience) is a part of.
Which is an interesting way to frame it, actually, considering that Somalia is not an ethnostate. Only around 85% of Somalians are ethnic Somalis, and there are large populations of Somalis in neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya; and, of course, Somaliland has been a persistent issue however much Somalia would like it not to be. The current constitution of Somalia (it is admittedly provisional; it's not the most stable part of the world) defines the country in terms of 'inclusive representation of the people' (Article 1), in Article 8 asserts that people of Somalia 'are one, indivisible, and comprise all the citizens', and in Article 11 outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, clan, tribe, ethnicity, and birth.
This may not be followed much in practice, but certainly de jure Somalia is not an ethnostate. It does not appear to present itself as the country of the Somalis, not does it seem to aspire to be that, at least officially.
It's possible that Omar is just choosing inapposite words, or appealing to national rather than ethnic identity in an awkward way. It is, at least, clear that Omar feels an identification with Somalia, and her statement that "Somalia belngs to all Somalis" suggests that she would like it to be an ethnostate, even if it currently isn't. Or maybe she's just equivocating between 'Somali' and 'Somalian' - imprecise language being the eternal curse of politics.
Really, I think we could all do with a bit more discussion of what she's specifically angry about - this seems like a reasonable intro. The short version today is that (formerly British) Somaliland is a large chunk of (former Italian Somaliland) Somalia, and it thinks it's independent and operates semi-autonomously. Somaliland recently made a deal to give Ethiopia a strip of land in exchange for progress in recognising its aspirations of independence; the Somalian position, naturally, is that this is illegal and Ethiopia trying to illegally acquire sovereign Somalian territory. Many Somalians outside of Somalia agree with the Somalian position here, and Omar is talking to them.
It's hard to think of a good analogous group in the US - the Somalian situation here is pretty unusual.
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