Yesterday at the Trump rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, hundreds of North Carolinians chanted “send her back”, referring to Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the first naturalized US citizen from Africa to serve in Congress. “Go back” is a historically racist saying in American culture.
The chants came immediately after President Trump stated that “Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds…”
The President has continued to attack the Congresswoman (perhaps now most famously in a Tweet where he told 4 ethnic minority American congresswomen to “go back”, which congress has since officially condemned).
His attacks often claim that Omar makes “anti-Semitic comments”, recently pointing to 2 statements made in February. The first being a Tweet Omar sent out saying “It’s all about the benjamins baby” (referring to a pro-Israeli lobbyist group). The second being a statement she made during a “progressive town hall” in D.C., during which she said “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country”. She never specifically referred to Jews or Israel in the comment, but it was widely interpreted to be aimed at the Israeli lobbyist group. Pro-Israel advocates quickly said that she was invoking an anti-semitic sentiment in the statement. Omar has since apologized for her comment.
What do you think about the “send her back” chants at yesterday’s rally?