Young Elected Officials Network Rejects Islamophobic Attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar

After attack on member, YEOs stand in solidarity against hate.

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:

Young Elected Officials Network

(202) 467-2347

mbatchelor@pfaw.org

The Young Elected Officials Network, a non-partisan program of the People for the American Way Foundation, is outraged by the Islamophobic attacks targeting YEO member and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar by the West Virginia Republican Party, which displayed a poster in the State Capital on Friday falsely linking her to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

“It is disheartening to see these vicious attacks targeting our friend and YEO member, Representative Omar,” said Svante Myrick, Director of the Young Elected Officials Network. “The YEO Network has been consistent in our efforts to reject outdated and regressive hate and anti-Muslim bigotry. Our diverse network of elected members, who represent the future of American leadership, will continue to malign these divisive attacks to ensure they remain relics of a darker past and not hallmarks of our common future.”

The YEO Network has been fighting to protect the rights of Muslim-Americans across the country. In 2016, the Network, in coordination with Local Progress, led a nationwide campaign to fight against hate and anti-Muslim bigotry. More than 500 elected officials from across the country joined the effort and released an open letter condemning bigotry and pledging to protect Muslim members of their communities.

“We vow to use our positions as elected leaders to stand up against anti-Muslim bigotry, against xenophobia, against hatred, and against oppression,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “We vow to promote local laws and policies that advance equity and value diversity. We vow never to use fear as a political tactic and never to succumb to fear as political pressure. We vow to work to fulfill the aspiration of our nation’s founding, in partnership with you, and against all those who would demonize or silence you.”

Our over 1,200 members elected in all 50 states and the District of Columbia stand in solidarity with Representative Omar and the Muslim community, and strongly reject these and any racist, bigoted, and anti-American attacks.

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