Women. Lots of women who made history. It's one of the best and most interesting stories of the recent mid-term elections in the United States. For the first time, Muslim and Native American women will serve in Congress. They are all strong, impressive women, who ran election campaigns on issues such as immigration, health care and gender discourse.
Rashida Tlaib from Michigan, the daughter of Palestinian parents who immigrated to Detroit, defines herself as a Palestinian and her mother stood next to her on the podium draped in a Palestinian flag. Ilhan Omar from Minnesota was born in Somalia, lived in a refugee camp in Kenya and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 16. Sharice Davids from Kansas is an open lesbian and single mother. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York is the youngest Congresswoman ever elected at 29; from Hispanic heritage, she was a prominent activist for Bernie Sanders in his run for the presidency in 2016. Each of these women was elected to be exactly whom and what they are, sans charade or ambiguity.
These women are part of the Democratic Party. They are joined in victory by Letitia James, the first black female attorney general in New York; Ayanna Pressley, the first black female congresswoman from Massachusetts; Sylvia Garcia, the first Hispanic congresswoman from Texas; Jared Polis, elected in Colorado as the first openly gay governor in the U.S.; Keith Ellison from Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to be state attorney general; and many others. The Democratic candidates represented minorities, immigrants and a decisively anti-Trump agenda. The more the president mocks and beats and hurts minority groups, the more these groups rally behind those who represent them.
While the Democrats who were elected accurately represent the rich tapestry of American society, they also accentuate the polarity. To paraphrase Michelle Obama from Hillary Clinton's campaign – "When they go low, we go high" – we can also say that "when they push minorities out, we push them back to the center of the stage." The more the Republican Party falls in line with the president's aggressive and violent stance, the more open and tolerant the Democratic Party becomes. In the future it will be harder to find politicians such as John Kasich, the outgoing governor of Ohio who ran against Donald Trump in the presidential primaries – Kasich, despite being a Republican, is viewed by many Democrats as a worthy representative.
This is the era of sharp, bold colors; there is no gray and nuanced. It's all or nothing, you must choose whether you are friend or foe. Either you are for opening the gates to all immigrants all the time, or you are for locking them out completely and building a wall. This discourse is the direct result of Trump's behavior. He pushes others to the wall and forces them to pick a side. There's no room for dialogue. The newly elected representatives are the product of hard work, talent, strong character and many other late-night tweets written by a restless president.
