A Republican congressman is being widely criticized for using an Islamophobic attack against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), a Muslim congresswoman who is often attacked by the right over her religious views.
Omar tweeted on Friday about a recent incident on the U.S. Capitol grounds, in which a person rammed his vehicle into a barricade near the building and lunged at Capitol police officers with a knife. One of the responding officers died as a result, and the suspect also died, after he was shot by police on Friday.
“Heartbroken to learn another [Capitol Police Officer] was killed while protecting the Capitol,” Omar tweeted that same afternoon. “My thoughts and prayers go out to the officer’s family and the entire Capitol Police force.”
Omar also highlighted how the attack could have been different had the suspect been armed with a gun. “The death toll would have been worse if the assailant had an AR-15 instead of a knife,” she wrote.
That prompted Rep. Greg Murphy (R-North Carolina) to tweet a response of his own directed toward Omar invoking the attacks of September 11, 2001.
“Would have been worse @Ilhan if they had been flying planes into the buildings also,” Murphy wrote.
The Republican lawmaker deleted his tweet shortly after writing it, but screenshots were saved and shared afterward. Many Muslim people still face bigotry and violence because of Islamophobia that arose after the 9/11 attack, and Murphy’s attack on Omar was a continuation on that theme.
North Carolina Democratic State Sen. Jeff Jackson, who has served alongside Murphy in the state legislature, blasted the congressman for his remarks.
“You just invoked Sept. 11 to attack a Muslim member of Congress,” Jackson, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in the state, said. “It doesn’t matter how strongly you disagree with her on policy, you should represent our state better than this, @RepGregMurphy.”
Robert S. McCaw, who serves as director of Government Affairs with The Council on American-Islamic Relations, also commented on Murphy’s tweet.
“CAIR strongly condemns Representative Murphy for invoking the September 11th terror attacks while insulting a member of Congress who is Muslim,” McCaw said in a statement. “It is disrespectful to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, to their families and to the countless Muslim and other minority hate crime victims who were targeted in the wake of 9/11. His bigoted comments only serve to perpetuate the climate of hate that we are witnessing nationwide.”
CAIR #Islamophobia Watch: #NorthCarolina Rep. #GregMurphy is facing criticism after tagging Muslim congresswoman @Ilhan Omar in a now-deleted tweet invoking the September 11th terror attacks.@IlhanMN #IlhanOmar https://t.co/9TG3VR6pjV pic.twitter.com/dgC2POjy9K
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) April 4, 2021
Although Murphy deleted his tweet, he has not yet commented on it or responded to the criticisms he’s received over his remarks as of Monday morning.
Murphy has made similarly bigoted statements against Democratic women in politics in the past. Last fall during the presidential race, Murphy claimed that now-Vice President Kamala Harris, was only picked by President Joe Biden to be his running mate “for her color and her race.” Harris has served as United States Senator and Attorney General for the state of California, among other roles.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $76,000 in one-time donations and to add 1156 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31. And right now, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar.
We’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy