Congresswoman overcomes 181-year headwear ban while Rashida Tlaib takes oath on Qur’an that belonged to Thomas Jefferson
Ilhan Omar holds the child of the Democratic representative Eric Swalwell during Thursday’s ceremonies. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
Twenty-three years after leaving a refugee camp in Kenya, Ilhan Omar on Thursday became the first member of the
US Congress to wear a hijab.
Rules were changed to allow Omar, a Muslim sworn in on the Qur’an, to wear a religious head covering on the floor of the House. There had been a 181-year ban on
headwear of any type in the chamber.
“No one puts a scarf on my head but me,”
she tweeted last November. “It’s my choice – one protected by the first amendment. And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift.”
Omar, 36, from Minnesota, tweeted: “As a kid, I acted as my grandfather’s translator at our caucuses and he was the one who first sparked my interest in politics. I wish he could be here to witness this historic moment, but he was here in spirit as I placed my hand on his Quran for the ceremonial swearing in.”
The normally staid chamber also bubbled with the sound of children. Congressman Eric Swalwell rocked his infant daughter, Cricket, on the House floor. Omar stopped by to take a turn holding the baby.
She was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
The other was Rashida Tlaib, who did not wear a hijab. Tlaib took the oath on a Qur’an – a 1734 English translation that belonged to the former president Thomas Jefferson.
Tlaib wore a traditional thobe stitched by her Palestinian-born mother.
When she stood to cast her vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker, Tlaib’s sons, Adam, 13, and seven-year-old Yousif, were standing by her side.
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