Tlaib: 'People hear you differently' when you're a woman of color and a 'first' in Congress

[DonViejo]

BY ARIS FOLLEY - 02/12/19 08:39 AM EST

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) said in a tweet on Tuesday that the "hardest part of serving in Congress" as a woman of color and one of the first Muslim women to serve is that "people here you differently."

"No matter how much we take on the hate & stay true to who we are through are experiences, our voices are shushed and reduced," she wrote. "We aren't perfect, but neither is the institution.”

Link to tweet

Tlaib didn't write about what triggered her tweet, but it follows a storm of controversy on Monday surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the other Muslim woman elected to Congress last fall. Tlaib and Omar are the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

Omar apologized Monday under a torrent of criticism from fellow Democrats — including a statement from the Democratic leadership team — for tweets that suggested U.S. lawmakers are pro-Israel because they are motivated by Monday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats criticized her for using "anti-Semitic tropes and and prejudicial accusations."

Both lawmakers have come under criticism since joining Congress.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/429550-tlaib-people-hear-you-differently-when-youre-a-woman-of-color-and-a-first-in

[Empowerer]

1. She's absolutely right

[tritsofme]

2. Don't peddle anti-Semitic tropes, and one won't be accused of anti-Semitism.

Not a difficult concept.

[still_one]

3. So when someone insinutates that because someone takes a certain position because they are

compromised by money or dual loyalties, does anyone really believe that some would not be offended by that?

Ironically, the dual-loyality implication could easily be hurled at those making that accusation.

It is a double edged sword, that in the big picture of things serves very little purpose, except as divisionary rhetoric, and making broad brush asertions that a person's views that one may be in disagreement with suggest "dual loyalties", without evidence, is insulting