--- title: Ilhan Omar: My Victory Is Counter-Narrative to Bigotry description: Ilhan Omar, the first female Somalian-American legislator in the U.S., opened up about her victory in an interview with People magazine. canonical: https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T16:33:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:16.063Z og:title: Ilhan Omar Says Her Victory ‘Offers a Counter-Narrative’ to Bigotry og:description: The Somali-American legislator made U.S. History in November og:url: https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt601f8c0a67c65469/6988b44dcf40a8df5cc45f56/ilhan-omar-minnesota-people.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-MINNESOTA-SOMALIAN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ilhan Omar Says Her Victory ‘Offers a Counter-Narrative’ to Bigotry twitter:description: The Somali-American legislator made U.S. History in November twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt601f8c0a67c65469/6988b44dcf40a8df5cc45f56/ilhan-omar-minnesota-people.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ilhan Omar Says Her Victory ‘Offers a Counter-Narrative’ to Bigotry > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Jan 3, 2017 4:33 PM UTC  Ilhan Omar, candidate for State Representative for District 60B in Minnesota, speaks to a group of volunteers on Election Day, November 8, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Omar, a refugee from Somalia, would be the first Somali-American Muslim woman if elected. / AFP / STEPHEN MATUREN (Photo credit should read STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP/Getty Images) Ilhan Omar, candidate for State Representative for District 60B in Minnesota, speaks to a group of volunteers on Election Day, November 8, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Omar, a refugee from Somalia, would be the first Somali-American Muslim woman if elected. / AFP / STEPHEN MATUREN (Photo credit should read STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP/Getty Images) STEPHEN MATUREN—AFP/Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Jan 3, 2017 4:33 PM UTC [Ilhan Omar](http://time.com/4564296/ilhan-omar-first-somali-legislator/), the first female Somali-American legislator in the U.S., says her recent victory offers a sliver of hope after an election that left [many women](http://motto.time.com/4565567/donald-trump-women-election/) and [immigrants](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/donald-trump-twitter-white-house.html) feeling vulnerable. “My election win offers a counter-narrative to the bigotry in the world,” Omar, who won a seat in Minnesota‘s House of Representatives in November, told _People_ in an interview. “This is a land of immigrants, and most come here for opportunity, a second chance. It’s our time to fight for the America we know we can have.” Omar fled Somalia during the country’s civil war and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for four years before her family was sponsored and moved to the United States. Omar told _People_ that it was initially difficult transitioning to life in America. “Not a lot of the kids knew how to coexist with people of a different background, so we created a unity and diversity program,” she said. “We’d have meals together and connect through experiences and stories. I was finally just ‘Ilhan,’ not ‘that Somali girl.’” **_Read More_**: [_Meet the Female Politicians Who Added Cracks to the Glass Ceiling Last Night_](http://motto.time.com/4564151/election-2016-female-victories-senate/) But now, Omar wants to inspire other women and minorities to reach for their dreams — despite the difficult road that likely lies ahead. “I believe women and minorities often wait for permission to be invited to something; we need to stop doing that,” she said. “My kids are the reason I continue to strive for something better. They know, as kids who are Muslim, Somali, black Americans, that they’ve always been part of a struggle and that change isn’t easy.” Read the full interview in [_People_.](http://people.com/politics/ilhan-omar-first-somali-american-legislator-counter-narrative-to-bigotry/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/"},"headline":"Ilhan Omar Says Her Victory ‘Offers a Counter-Narrative’ to Bigotry","datePublished":"2017-01-03T16:33:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:16.063Z","description":"The Somali-American legislator made U.S. History in November","url":"https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt601f8c0a67c65469/6988b44dcf40a8df5cc45f56/ilhan-omar-minnesota-people.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt601f8c0a67c65469/6988b44dcf40a8df5cc45f56/ilhan-omar-minnesota-people.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-MINNESOTA-SOMALIAN","caption":"US-VOTE-MINNESOTA-SOMALIAN","creditText":"STEPHEN MATUREN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/","name":"Ilhan Omar Says Her Victory ‘Offers a Counter-Narrative’ to Bigotry"}}]}] ```