Faced with the many challenges of being an immigrant and a refugee, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with her classmates and in her community. Four years later, after a painstaking vetting process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia.Īged twelve, penniless, speaking only Somali and having missed out on years of schooling, Ilhan rolled up her sleeves, determined to find her American dream.

They ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where Ilhan says she came to understand the deep meaning of hunger and death. She was being raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compound and the family decided to flee Mogadishu. The youngest of seven children, her mother had died while Ilhan was still a little girl. Ilhan Omar was only eight years old when war broke out in Somalia. It's an honor to serve alongside her in the fight for a more just world.' -Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-CortezĪn intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar-the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress. This book will give you insight into the person and sister that I see-passionate, caring, witty, and above all committed to positive change. 'Ilhan has been an inspiring figure well before her time in Congress. “ This Is What America Looks Like is the origin story of a leader who, finding no set path that would take a person like her to the places she wanted to go, was forced, and free, to chart her own.” –The New York Times Book Review Named a Best Political Book of the Year by The Atlantic

This is what america looks like omar