Friends,

Last weekend, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked me yet again — giving a platform to xenophobic conspiracy theories, name calling, and threatening to “investigate and remove” me from Congress.

This all started when I called her out for her disturbing campaign ad. In the ad, she claimed she was going to “blow away” what she calls Democrats’ “socialist agenda” — that is, our plans to take urgent action to address the climate crisis and preserve our planet for future generations.

Then, she picked up a gun, shot a car with “socialism” printed on it, and watched it blow up in a plume of smoke. “Target destroyed” displayed on the screen.

Of course, the ad wouldn’t be complete without her announcement that she was raffling off that very gun for donations.

Friends, I was almost speechless.

It should concern us all that Republicans can’t engage in political discourse without constantly threatening violence in their campaign ads, at rallies, and on Fox News.

But this is far from the first time Marjorie Taylor Greene has released a violent campaign ad, attacked me, spread falsehoods about me, or tried to silence me.

She’s led formal efforts to try to strip my committee assignments from me in the House. Before she was elected to the House, she searched the halls of Congress to find me and Rashida Tlaib and try to force us to re-take our oath of office on a Bible, falsely claiming that swearing in on the Quran was illegitimate. Her campaign even published another disturbing ad that showed an image of her pointing a gun next to pictures of me and other sitting members of Congress.

She doesn’t recognize my humanity at all.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republicans’ words have grave consequences. Republicans’ countless hateful, Islamophobic attacks on me on the internet and on the news have led to real threats against my life. Their Big Lie about the 2020 election caused an insurrection on the Capitol that took multiple lives and put many more at risk.

Her far-right policies and extreme, xenophobic rhetoric aren’t an outlier in the Republican Party — she represents what the GOP has chosen to become, even after Donald Trump.

But we cannot let the Republican Party win with their hatred and fear-mongering. We have to keep calling it out, every single day, because while it might be “normal” talk for them, we can’t become desensitized to it. We must keep fighting for a people-powered agenda. Most importantly, we need to make sure we strengthen the Democratic majorities in Congress to continue our progress and show how powerful a movement that prioritizes peace and justice is against a party that thrives on division and fear.

We can do all of this and more — as long as we do it together.

Thank you for reading. I won’t give up on the America we’re fighting for together, no matter what attacks come my way.

In solidarity,

Ilhan Omar