Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s father is the latest high profile figure to succumb to the coronavirus, the Minnesota Rep announced Monday night.
“It is with tremendous sadness and pain that I share that my father, Nur Omar Mohamed, passed away due to complications from COVID-19,” Omar said in a statement. “No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him.”
Omar was raised by her father and grandfather following her mother’s death when she was an infant and partly lived in Kenya’s refugee camp in Daadab.
She and her father came to the United States as refugees in 1995 from Somalia during the country’s civil war and eventually settled in Minneapolis.
إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
Surely we belong to God and to him shall we return.
It is with tremendous sadness and pain to say goodbye to my father, Nur Omar Mohamed. No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew and loved him. pic.twitter.com/gb7q0gMXG2
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 16, 2020
Omar has recounted her father’s encouragement as she expressed disappointment in the inequalities and bullying she experienced when she first came to the country. Omar went on to be elected one of the first two Muslim congresswomen in 2018, along with Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and the first to wear a hijab on the House floor.
Omar has since established herself as a progressive firebrand. As the coronavirus pandemic plunged the economy into a crisis, Omar proposed canceling rent and mortgage payments during the pandemic.
Omar’s confession about Tecra’s accident compels Keroche family to ask for his release
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 116,000 people in the United States. More than 21. million people have tested positive for the virus, which is still ravaging parts of the country as infections spike in nearly two dozen states.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in April that her older brother Don Reed Herring, died of the coronavirus, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) detailed her husband after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He ultimately recovered.
Meanwhile in Kenyafour State House officials have tested positive for coronavirus, marking the first publicly- acknowledged Covid-19 infections at the top national government office.
State House spokesperson Kanze Dena said the identities of the four will remain concealed as they seek treatment at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital in Kiambu County.
They tested positive for Covid-19 following a screening conducted last week.
“During last week’s mass Covid-19 testing held on Thursday, 11th June 2020, four persons were found to have contracted the disease…Families and close contacts of the affected officers are also being attended to accordingly,” Ms Dena said in a statement.
