--- 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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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=ec09a51e-6f42-4fb2-bd2b-ec6f633fd408&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1)  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":"https://time.com/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"}}]}] ```