Rep. Ilhan Omar

Starling of the Month - March 2019

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (Minn.) has gotten herself into a lot of political hot water as of late. After speaking on what would seem would be an open topic to discuss as a representative in the states, Omar learned that following the money trail may lead to some troubles.

In February, she posted a string of tweets holding a conversation with a journalist on AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group. She caught the most amount of criticism for her now deleted tweet "It's all about the Benjamins baby."

While Omar was calling attention to the relationship between AIPAC funding and pro-Israel legislation, critics of her decided her actions exemplified anti-Semitism. this led to her "unequivocally apologizing" with the backlash and threat of censure looming.

Then, on March 1st, she once again found herself the topic of conversation. After a town hall, the day before her comments on the political influence of Israel in the U.S. re-ignited the already fresh allegations of anti-Semitism.

"I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country," she said during the event.

Her comments came straight off of the back of her meetings with several Jewish leaders in Minnesota. This time instead of backtracking, she doubled down on her comments.

It is important to in situations like these when calling out discrimination and stereotypical tropes that action and outrage are not aimed with hollow points.

To point out the language of "All about the Benjamin's" being offensive is one thing, but to discredit any claims of financial mischief or prohibit the conversation from even being explored is uniquely absurd. Money has continuously crippled the direction of U.S. politics and props to Rep. Omar to standing her ground.

See what Twitter had to say about Ilhan Omar below: