Basu: City Council candidate fled tribal hatred in homeland to face a different kind here

As folks began gathering in Des Moines’ Cowles Commons on Monday to denounce the racist hatred that turned fatal in Charlottesville, a tall man moved about handing out candles and occasional hugs. Event organizer Connie Ryan of the Iowa Interfaith Alliance welcomed people and, to cheers, thanked 26-year-old Abshir Omar. If anyone has had to face hatred up close, Omar has.

He lost his father to tribal violence in the early 1990s in his native Somalia, just months before Omar was born. A civil war forced his mother to take four children and flee as refugees, first to Kenya and later to Seattle.

The family worked, saved, studied and pulled themselves out of the homeless shelter that was their early American home. Omar became a U.S. citizen, and moved from Seattle to Iowa with his mother to attend Iowa State, earning a degree in political science and history. In Des Moines since 2012, he buys dilapidated and foreclosed homes and rehabs them to sell.

In June he took another big step by joining the race to represent Ward 3 on the Des Moines City Council. But after that hit the news, another tribal hatred, born after Sept. 11, reared its ugly head. Instead of being hailed as a determined American success story, an alt-right website, Freedom Daily, announced: “Somali Muslim refugee just entered City Council race in Des Moines, Iowa for disturbing reasons.” 

It claimed this goal was the "Islamization" of Des Moines and the imposition of Sharia law. As evidence, it noted his connection to the Council on American Islamic Relations (he's president of the Iowa chapter), which Omar calls "the Muslim version of the American Civil Liberties Union." The conspiracy site "Creeping Sharia" was beating the same drum.

Online attack on D.M. City Council candidate Abshir Omar is bigotry

I asked Omar about any plans to bring Sharia (Islamic religious) law to Des Moines. “I was thinking, ‘Do I have multiple personalities?’ ” he laughed, denying it. But the story's out there. One had been shared 21,000 times online. Those pieces generated responses such as racist name-calling, claims that he's not a U.S. citizen and even references to shooting him.

Friends and family suggested he get out of the race. “I really didn’t want to publicize this,” he said. “I was worried, to be honest.” He stopped campaigning for a few weeks. “These words are insidious. They go deep into your consciousness," he said. "But these are the type of people who forced me out of Somalia and made me a refugee.”

And that’s how it goes. Some hate-filled conspiracy theory scenario with no basis in fact is floated by someone who wants to rile up a base. It generates fear in those who have never known a Muslim or a black person and can't distinguish between real and fake news. Some state legislators (including in Iowa) introduce bills to reject Sharia law, as if it were a possibility. And then someone wins the White House claiming America’s first black president isn't even American. So of course people believe it, even more so after the president names as a top adviser an architect of the alt-news movement. 

Omar has many strikes against him with those crowds. He's black, a refugee, a Muslim and though a registered Democrat, identifies as a Democratic Socialist. That was the group that Heather Heyer, who died after being rammed by a car in Charlottesville, belonged to.

 On Monday Omar addressed the rally on behalf of Black Lives Matter.  

Prejudice is learned, he argues. If someone tells you it's not your fault things aren't working out because Asians or Latinos are taking your jobs and Muslims are threatening your way of life, you might believe it. Especially if you've never met someone from those groups. 

Omar confesses even he reacted in fear out of stereotypes when he was younger and saw some Palestinians were on the same flight as him. More recently he noticed some Iowa farmers seemed nervous around him when he attended a livestock auction for his family's Halal (Muslim) slaughterhouse north of Ames. But once they started talking, fears abated. One farmer invited him to his farm. 

"When people come together, it builds bridges," Omar said. "People can change. Viewpoints can shift." He'd like to help initiate community conversations that bring groups together.

What happened in Charlottesville isn't limited to that city. Maybe a statue's removal was the catalyst, but hate groups are emboldened all over. Some boasted on social media that the president didn't criticize them in his initial remarks, when he said "many sides" were to blame for the violence. Later, under pressure, Donald Trump called racism evil. But he also called Arizona's former Sheriff Joe Arpaio "a great American patriot"  and is considering pardoning him for refusing a state judge's order to stop traffic cops from racially profiling immigrants.

Websites like The Daily Stormer, which was full of praise for Saturday's carnage, have become ubiquitous. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists that group as having a presence in Iowa. Before it was taken down by GoDaddy, the site had the audacity to degrade the woman who was killed for, among other things, being childless. It said a woman's sole purpose was to bear children.

Pastor LeAnn Stubbs of Plymouth Congregational Church told Monday's rally, "Condemning the ugliness in Charlottesville is not enough." She said white people like herself have a responsibility to look at how white privilege has burdened people of color, listen to the latter's experiences "and believe what they tell us."

Omar decided to stay in the council race. "If people's hatred towards me brings this issue to the forefront," he said, "I can be the catalyst for that change." However you plan to vote, you could help set a tone by showing him some affirmation and encouragement.

Rekha Basu is an opinion columnist for The Des Moines Register. Contact: rbasu@dmreg.com Follow her on Twitter @RekhaBasu and at Facebook.com/ColumnistRekha. Her book, "Finding Her Voice: A collection of Des Moines Register columns about women's struggles and triumphs in the Midwest," is available at ShopDMRegister.com/FindingHerVoice