The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From the Archives: Ilhan Omar - July 13, 2017

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

Minnesota State Representative Ilhan Omar reflects on her unlikely path from living in a refugee camp to becoming the country's first Somali-American lawmaker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever

you get your podcast. My guest tonight is the nation's first Somali American state legislator. Please welcome Minnesota State Representative Ilhan Omar. Welcome to the show. Thank you. But before we get started, I wanted to take a selfie. Oh, well, let's do this. Let's do this. Everyone wants to make sure I do that. This is the millennial generation.

We got it. Welcome. Thank you very much. Your story is one of the most fascinating I have ever come across. To be in the position you're in is one that is already unique, but your story is even more unique. You are someone who is all too familiar with being a refugee. You're from Somalia, you're also a Muslim person, you're also a woman, you are everything

that President Trump seems to be against and you are in government. Yeah, what's the plan? What's the President's Nightmare. If you don't mind taking a step back, I'm sure people ask you about this a lot though, but coming from a world where, you know, you had to leave Somalia as a young child. You got a chance to travel through to the United States. How hard was it to get into America, seeing as the conversation always seems to be, it's too easy to to get in, we need to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the their, you their, you their, you to their, you their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their, you, you their their their, you their, you their, you their, their, their, their........... their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, theirto travel through to the United States. How hard was it to get into America, seeing as the conversation always seems to be, it's too easy to get in, we need to have extreme vetting.

What was your vetting process like? Yeah, I mean, when the war happened, I was eight, we came to the refugee camp, and waited four years for that process to take place for us to relocate here to the US. Our vetting process from what I remember at the age of 12 is that it included my family filling out applications, having multiple interview process, taking a lot of like medical tests to see if we were healthy enough to be relocated to the United States and it took you know for nearly four years for that process to be completed and then once we came to the US it took very long

time for us to become legal and and to be able to become citizens and and to be and and to be to be healthy to be the the US and and to be to be the to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the long time for us to become legal and to be able to become citizens and to be seen as people who had a right to be here. You obviously cannot predict another world or a different timeline or a different future you may have had, but were you not able to get into the United States? What do you think your family's life would have been if you were stuck in Somalia when you would have been? I mean, I got a glimpse of that. I went back in 2011.

There was a huge famine that was happening in, in Somalia. And there's a big refugee camp called the DAP. Not the one that I was in, but another one. And I went back to help to the to to the to to to the to to to to to to to to to to to help the to help to help to help to help to help to help to help the the to help the to help the the the the the the the the the the st stuck stuck stuck stuck the the the the the the the the the the the stuiliauiliauiliaiaiae if stuiliaiaiaiaiaia, stuiliaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiae the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to the to the the to the thau.au.au.au.auiuiuiuiuiuiuiui.. If. If you were stuck stuck toauiauiauiauil. If you were stuck the DAP, not the one that I was in, but another one. And I went back to help aid the people that were struggling. And I remember meeting a young woman that was a friend of mine that I was in the refugee camp with. When my family relocated here and the camp closed, her family went to another camp and she couldn't get here. And I remember meeting her and her saying to me, you, and you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to to have to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the the the the the the the the thea, and the the thea, and the thea, and toe, and the the camp and she couldn't get here. And I remember meeting her and her saying to me, you have to enjoy and be proud and

understand the privileges that you have because I have not been able to get an education. I was, you know, I had to deliver my children here and their life is not going to be much different than the life that I had. And so I came back sort of having the survivor's guilt in realizing that I had to do more. I had to give voice to those that we left behind and I had to fight for a better life here in the US for those that made it here. When you take criticism from people who make the assertion saying, you are not an American, you are trying to bring to America something that is not of America. You're bringing different cultures, you're trying to bring in a different religion,

why are you in a position of power now? How do you respond to that criticism? I mean, I think that people forget that that's kind of what the Native Americans, the indigenous people of this land, felt like when most of the people that don't want me in this country were coming to this country and feeling you know proud enough to make America their country. And so, you know, we say this is a land of immigrants when, and we forget that this was a land that belonged to people. And those of us who are new immigrants and those of us who come from generations of immigrants

have to realize that we're not that much different from one another. This country gave us hope. This country allowed for us to develop our own identity and to create our own home. And we shouldn't look down on the next person that's trying to do that. That's the very important thing.

The story that shocked me. The story that shocked me, I guess the stat that did it it that it that it was was was was was was was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that it was that shocked me, I guess the stat that did was that Minnesota has the largest Somali community outside of Somalia. And in the race that you ran, I think it was in the primaries, you had to go up against someone who was a 44-year incumbent and a Somali man, which was very difficult because a lot of people in the Somali community look at the man as the leader, a woman has her place. This is something that's common in Africa, many people have experienced it. When overcoming that challenge, how do you

or what tool did you use to communicate with people? How did you get people to see you as somebody who could be in a leadership position? Yeah, I mean oftentimes people would say you know you should let your brother have it and I would say I think I could do a better job than my brother. Maybe you should let me have her. And I think you know there's there's a lot of focus when one runs for office on their identity, whether it is their gender identity, whether it is their race or religion. for you you you you you you you you you you you you you you th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi to to to to to thi to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their gender identity, whether it is their race or religion. For me, it was really important to have conversations with people so that we can suspend these particular

identities that were unique to me and unique to a lot of other people and focus on the common issues that were pervasive in our area and figure out solutions together so that people can hear what I had to offer and the platform that I had and what I could deliver for them. When you look at Minnesota now, and you look at the issues that face every area is unique, you're on a position where you obviously don't just represent, who

people may think you represent, but rather everyone that you represent, which is me saying represent a lot. But you're not in a position to change many people's lives. What do you think some of the greatest challenges lie ahead of you as a representative? You are saying representative for last. I am. I think it's because they were like, remember to say representative. I was like, I'll say we're representative. I'm sponsored by the representative company.

Representative. That's perfect. No, I think a lot of the challenges that I have as a freshman. That's perfect. Um, no, I think a lot of, a lot of the challenges that I have as a freshman representative It's contagious, period. Is that there, we're in the minority, and as a minority, in the minority, there is a lot of challenges in getting some things done. But what I know as someone who has overcome a lot of obstacles and have always worked with people that are not often people that you would assume would be my allies, I have particular training, making sure that things can get done.

And so I've been able to have a very successful first session in working with people across the aisle and found myself really at the table in leadership circles, in committees, you know, forming the solution for our state and tackling a lot of the challenges that we have in having a budget that takes care of all of Minnesota and leads to a prosperous and equitable Minnesota. If you were to have the opportunity to speak to or work with President Trump, A, would you and B, what would you say or try to do? Actually, I invited President Trump twice now to come and meet my family and my community, because he seems to have a lot of opinions about the kind of people that we are. And we shouldn't judge a book by its cover. We should at

least give people the opportunity to get to know them. And so my grandfather and father always said that you should invite your enemy to your home and make them a friend. And so, so I, I wanted to give the president an opportunity to make amends with our community and at least come and have our famous Somali tea you know that's the least he can do he represents us now as well. All right there it is President Trump have some Somali tea yeah thank you so much for joining us on the show representing Ella Hall of everybody. There it is, President Trump, have some Somali tea. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Representing the Fella Hall of Everybody. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second.

I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.