Apology Not Accepted: Racist, Islamophobic Attack On Rep. Ilhan Omar Requires More
Self-righteous white supremacists who live for racist, Islamophobic hate cannot stand to see bold Black leaders like Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5). But the latest attack by Rep. Randy Fine (FL-6), a freshman member of Congress, demands we stop allowing hate to masquerade as political discourse.
Responding to Omar’s critique of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest visit to the U.S., Fine let loose a vile tirade, stopping short of calling for the Minnesota representative’s head.
“I’m sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists,” Fine tweeted. “The only shame is that you serve in Congress.”
Several of Omar’s Democratic colleagues condemned Fine’s racist and Islamophobic attack. Rep. Nikema Williams (GA-5) connected the dots between extremist language like Fine’s and IRL violence.
“Randy Fine’s Islamophobic attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar are disgusting,” wrote Williams.”This is more than rhetoric. It’s a pattern of dehumanization that fuels real-world violence.”
No stranger to hate-filled rhetoric from Netanyahu fans, Rep. Summer Lee (PA-12) called on “decent Americans” to demand better than Fine’s bigotry.
Fine’s unhinged response comes less than a month after a gunman murdered two Democratic state legislators from Omar’s home state of Minnesota. For nearly a decade, at least since her election to Congress in 2018, Omar has been the subject of misogynoir and Islamophobic attacks by Republican commentators and officials alike. Omar reportedly was one of dozens of potential targets on the Minnesota assassin’s hit list.
In a joint statement, House Democratic Leadership called Fine’s comments “bigoted and disgusting.”
“We are just weeks removed from heinous acts of political violence targeting elected officials in Minnesota for assassination,” they wrote. “This is an incredibly difficult time for our nation and Members of Congress should be solving problems for the American people, not inciting violence. Randy Fine must apologize immediately.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley stepped it up a notch and called for Fine’s censure.
Doubling down in response, Fine called his House Democratic colleagues the “Hamas Caucus.” Fine’s extremist response demands more than an apology.
NewsOne has covered multiple instances of far-right elected officials coming at Omar with no substance and lots of misogynoir and Islamophobia.
Also, to be clear, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in November 2024. Charges filed include “allegedly responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.” The ICC also charged Netanyahu with crimes against humanity, specifically the “murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
Also, to be clear, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in November 2024. Charges filed include “allegedly responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.” The ICC also charged Netanyahu with crimes against humanity, specifically the “murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
Curtailing the dissent of government officials at home or abroad is a tell-tale sign of fascists seeking to control every aspect of our lives. Regardless of whether you agree with Omar, calling Netanyahu a war criminal and questioning why he’s being welcomed with open arms isn’t a capital offense. And it definitely doesn’t justify doubling down on hate, racism, and Islamophobia.
People who proclaim to care about democracy, human rights, and freedom cannot keep placating an opposition committed to our collective destruction. Fine is not the first member of Congress to pour gasoline on the flames of hate, and certainly won’t be the last. Fake rules of decorum and respectability cannot save us. There is no middle ground with people who operate like Fine.
Freedom of speech and association are not just for crappy white conservatives who lack empathy and humanity. Expressing an opinion about an international official who is widely criticized, even by citizens in his own country, should not put anyone’s life in danger. But that’s what fascism does, it silences us into feeling like we cannot take the brave stand.
These moments require us to consider what side we are on and what we will demand of those who claim to be “in power.” Consider the following quote from the late Ida B. Wells-Barnett from Chapter 8 of her groundbreaking publication “The Red Record.”
“When the lives of men, women and children are at stake, when the inhuman butchers of innocents attempt to justify their barbarism by fastening upon a whole race the obloquy of the most infamous of crimes, it is little less than criminal to apologize for the butchers today and tomorrow repudiate the apology by declaring it a figure of speech.”
SEE ALSO:
MAGA Republicans Want To Deport Rep. Ilhan Omar…Again
Ilhan Omar Responds To Lauren Boebert Calling Her a ‘Jihad Squad Member’