“This is a man who has deep-seated animosity and hatred, who feels so small, who works so hard to make others feel beneath him and so I think it is even ludicrous for us to have the space to dignify what he says with an answer.”— Ilhan Omar, cbsnews.com
“We do want to create a system that is of the people, for the people. Many of the policies that we advocate, whether it is Medicare for all, or cancelling out student debt, or dealing with our climate crisis, most of those policies poll at 70 percent plus.”— Ilhan Omar, cbsnews.com
“It doesn’t matter how good you are if you one day find yourself in a school where other religions are talked about, but when Islam is mentioned, we are only talking about terrorists.”— Ilhan Omar, tampabay.com
“There’s a direct correlation between corporations that are getting rich, and the fact that we have students who are shackled with debt. There is a direct correlation between the White House and the people who are benefiting from detention beds that are profitized [sic].”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“No, we know what hate looks like. We experience it every single day. [applause] We have to deal with death threats. I have colleagues who talk about death threats. And sometimes… there are cities in my state where the gas stations have written on their bathrooms ‘assassinate Ilhan Omar.’ I have peop…”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“I have taken I think every single opportunity I've gotten to make sure that people understand that my work and one of my responsibilities is to make sure that we are dealing with the issue of anti-Semitism. That as I fight hard to deal with Islamophobia that I am going to do the same thing because I…”— Ilhan Omar, cbsnews.com
“And so, when people say ‘you are bringing hate,’ I know what their intention is. Their intention is to make sure that our lights are dimmed. That we walk around with our heads bowed. That we lower our face and our voice.”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“And what I am fearful of is that because Rashida and I are Muslim, that a lot of Jewish colleagues, a lot of our Jewish constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be anti-Semitic, because we are Muslim. And so to me, it is something that becomes designe…”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“So for me, I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. And I want to ask, why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries, or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lo…”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“But we never really allow space for the stories of Palestinians seeking safety and sanctuary to be uplifted. And to me, it is the dehumanization and the silencing of a particular pain and suffering of people, should not be OK and normal. And you can’t be in the practice of humanizing and uplifting t…”— Ilhan Omar, ips-dc.org
“Are we going to choose to lead, or are we going to sit on our hands?”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, theguardian.com
“Hope is not something that you have. Hope is something that you create, with your actions.”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, theguardian.com
“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. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose acc…”— Ilhan Omar, vox.com
“I used to be much more cynical about how much was up against us. I think I’ve changed my mind. Because I think that change is a lot closer than we think.”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, time.com
“There is so much fear and hate. We must negate it with active, courageous love.”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, twitter.com
“What good are your thoughts and prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, twitter.com