Omar Trashes the U.S. for Not Living Up to Her 'American Dream'

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is in Iowa doing last-minute campaigning on behalf of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). During an event in Clive Iowa, Omar explained how her idea of the "American Dream" were shattered once she came to America. 

“When I first came to the United States, I remember one of the first things that I saw was homeless people sleeping on the sides of Manhattan when we arrived in New York. And I remember turning to my father and saying, 'This doesn't look like the America you promised.' And my father looked at me and said, 'Hush, child, we are going to get to our America,'" Omar recounted. "Because the America we were shown in the orientation tapes when we were coming here from the refugee camp in Kenya had beautiful homes with white picket fences, happy families eating a full meal in their beautiful living rooms. It had happy children getting on the bus to go to their beautiful schools. It had pictures of amazing malls, megamalls, and had pictures of beautifully built bridges and highways. It was a picture of abundance. Now that is the ideal."

"That is the America we all know we deserve but our reality is full of homeless people. Our reality is full of families who have moms and dads who are going without dinner or lunch or breakfast just so that they can have enough for their children," she explained. "Our reality is full of kids who are showing up to schools that are full of mold and leaking rooftops. Our reality has children who are facing drills every single day to learn about how they can escape being shot in our schools."