Guyanese Online

There were four words: “some people did something.”

They have launched a furious controversy that pits the President of the United States against a congressional newcomer in yet another example of the divisiveness that characterizes today’s America.

Rep Ilhan Omar

The words were spoken by one of two Muslim women elected to the House of Representatives last November, while she addressed a civil rights gathering organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on March 23. It was a 20-minute speech.

“For far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,” Omar said. “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting  to lose access to our civil liberties. So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange and that I am trying to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that, ‘This person is looking at me strange. I am not comfortable with it, and I am going to talk to them and ask them why.’ Because that is the right you have.”    Continue reading →