Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has had a rough time on X lately, as she's been called out for her anti-American sentiments in various posts and social media hits. On Thursday, she was actually forced to delete a post in honor of Juneteenth, after she was called out for the slavery still going on in her home country of Somalia.
"160 years ago on June 19, 1865, slavery ended in this country. Today, we celebrate Black freedom, resilience, and achievement, and continue the work to root out systematic racism from our policies and institutions," read Omar's since deleted post from her official account.
In a quoted repost, Gunther Eagleman called for Omar to go back to her home country. "Somalia still has slaves. Ilhan should go fight to free her own people," he posted. Omar's original post is now showing up as no longer existing, indicating she deleted it.
She deleted her post 🤣 https://t.co/Q2Cm7Flt3R pic.twitter.com/cQGTquNsIy
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 19, 2025
According to a 2023 report for Walk Free, using 2021 numbers, there were 98,000 people living in modern slavery in Somalia, 6.2 per every 1,000 people. There is a 98/100 score for "vulnerability to modern slavery," but the government only has a 18/100 response score.
Omar has since put up a new post, one which mentions Juneteenth by name, but not the end of slavery.
"On Juneteenth, we remember that freedom is not always swift but it is always worth the fight. It’s a powerful reminder of how long justice can take to reach those who deserve it most," her new post now begins with.
"Today, we celebrate Black freedom, resilience, and achievement, and continue the work to root out systematic racism from our policies and institutions," her post continues, just as the original had read.
On Juneteenth, we remember that freedom is not always swift but it is always worth the fight. It’s a powerful reminder of how long justice can take to reach those who deserve it most.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 19, 2025
Today, we celebrate Black freedom, resilience, and achievement, and continue the work to root…
Many of the replies still continue to remind Omar about the modern day slavery that still exists in her country.
The slave trade was quite popular in Somalia, before Italy put a stop to it in 1893. Yet today, slavery persists in Somalia.
— Dean Winchester🇺🇸 (@DWincheste55011) June 19, 2025
Estimates suggest millions were enslaved in the broader East African slave trade over centuries, with 25,000–50,000 Bantu slaves sold from Zanzibar to…
The Blogs: The silence about black slavery in the Arab world | David Meir | The Times of Israel
— Steel Magnolia (@Rachel22Queen) June 19, 2025
Why don't you tell us about the slaves still in Somalia?
Go back Somalia if you feel so strongly about freeing slaves. Plenty of slaves still there.
— Halo (@HaloTruthCat) June 19, 2025
Omar has not merely communicated such points with posts over X. The congresswoman joined her fellow Squad members last month in sponsoring a bill on reparations, and was also a co-sponsor to such a bill in February.
Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation in mid June 2021 to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, celebrating when the remaining slaves in the Confederacy learned that President Abraham Lincoln had freed them over two-and-a-half years prior. The June 19 order came from Galveston, Texas. As bipartisan as the bill was, then President Joe Biden, when signing the bill into law, went on a political screed at the time about how voting rights were supposedly "under attack."
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