Poet Danez Smith lives in Omar’s district and voted for the representative. They told CNN the poem speaks to a lot of the struggle black women face in the country, who still have to carry on with grace and style.
“I think you see that a lot in Ilhan Omar,” they said, citing Omar’s identity as a black Muslim woman is a hyper-politicized and at-risk identity.
“I think for Omar and the rest of the crew, I think the ethos is still ‘I rise.’ That no matter how much you try to stall us, we will continue forward,” they said.
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Smith pointed to the fourth stanza in the poem, which reads:
“Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.”
“I think that’s why we see so many people attacking Omar and the rest of the crew, and it’s because they’re haughty,” they said. “They’re not scared to have a voice, and that’s what their constituents have asked them to be.”
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