Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm Sam Fragoso. Welcome to the show. Hey yo, yo, Hey everyone. In 2016, Ilhan Omar ran on behalf of District 60B in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

She won that race.

But her victory wasn't just a victory.

It was history, as it made her the first Somali-American legislator in the United States.

After a successful two years, she ran to become part of the House, representing Minnesota's fifth congressional district.

She won that race too, again making her the first Somali-American elected to Congress

and first of two Muslim women elected to Congress that same year.

Shortly thereafter, Omar became nationally known as a member of the Squad, one of the four women of color elected to the House in 2018,

alongside Alexandra Acasio Cortez, Aiana Presley, and Rashida Taleeb.

For the uninitiated, Omar's platform is focused on guaranteeing access to public education,

health care coverage for all, and a green new deal to sufficiently combat climate

change.

Her other primary focus though, especially in the year we've had in this country is to create real criminal justice reform.

As we know, the police murder of George Floyd unfolded in Minneapolis, which Omar represents as part of the fifth district in Minnesota.

With the issue of racial injustice at her doorstep, she's tackled the problem head on, protesting in the streets, and fighting on Capitol Hill.

What we are fighting for is a dignified life.

What we are fighting for is an equal access to exist as ourselves.

What we are fighting for is to undo 400 years of being brutalized and victimized,

surveilled, enslaved, imprisoned, and having the life choked out of us in the cities that we are tired of being tired. That was Omar over the summer speaking at George Floyd's Memorial in Minneapolis.

We'll talk more about that in a bit.

But before we start, I wanted to provide some context for listeners new and old.

You see, I'm not a political reporter for the New York Times.

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