On Friday, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), two progressive members of the so-called "squad," spoke to a group of far-left activists at a Democracy Now event in Washington, D.C. Rep. Omar took issue with people for not connecting the dots and being able to see how America is responsible for everything bad that happens all around the world.
"When we think about it now in Congress," Omar began, "We're having a conversation about cross-border negotiations happening for workers because all of our destinies are tied together. When you see a Somali refugee, or an Iraqi refugee, or a Libyan refugee -- we often are like 'Oh, this is my neighbor -- they must have survived some struggle.' We don't ever pause to think, 'What American policy made them come over here?'"
The crowd applauded Omar's comments.
"When you see a flooding happening in a country abroad," Omar continued, "and you are urgently raising money for these lives to be saved, you don't think about, 'How have I contributed to the climate warming that has led to these floods and these catastrophes that are taking place abroad?'"
Omar went on to say that it was important for those in the crowd to "have these connections" when thinking about the problems of the world.
Doing some last-minute campaigning for Bernie Sanders in Iowa last week, Omar described her experience coming to America as a Somali refugee and being disappointed with the country she found.
"Because the America we were shown in the orientation tapes when we were coming here from the refugee camp in Kenya had beautiful homes with white picket fences," Omar explained, "happy families eating a full meal in their beautiful living rooms. It had happy children getting on the bus to go to their beautiful schools. It had pictures of amazing malls, mega-malls, and had pictures of beautifully built bridges and highways. It was a picture of abundance. Now that is the ideal."
That sounds like the America the MAGA train is headed toward. But remind me why we need refugees in this country who hate us and want to blame America for everything bad in the world?
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