Conservative pastor E.W. Jackson began his radio program Wednesday with an outraged rant about a rule change that congressional Democrats are proposing that would reverse a headwear ban on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The change would take effect next year, when Democrats resume control of the House and welcome the most racially diverse and most female freshman class in U.S. history, which includes the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress. One of them, Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, wears a hijab, a form of head covering.
“The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic,” Jackson said on the show.
Friday morning, Omar shared a story from The Hill about Jackson’s remarks and offered a response of her own.
“Well sir, the floor of Congress is going to look like America,” she wrote. “And you’re gonna have to just deal.”
The Pew Research Center estimates that there were 3.45 million Muslim Americans living in the United States in 2017, accounting for about 1.1 percent of the overall population. By 2040, the center projects that Muslims will replace Jews as the country’s second-largest religious group after Christians.
Minnesota’s 5th District, where Omar won in November, is the most diverse in the state. Thirty-six percent of the residents there are people of color, and the district has the sixth-highest percentage of millennial voters of all 435 House districts, according to reporting from MPR News. With her victory there last month, Omar claimed multiple “first” titles: the first woman of color to represent Minnesota in Congress; and the first Muslim refugee, first Somali American and first hijab-wearing Muslim woman to be elected to Congress.