“Rep. lhan Omar (D-Minn.) and her teenage daughter Isra Hirsi are Teen Vogue’s November cover stars. The mother-daughter duo tackled community organizing, racism and brutality and the 2020 presidential election in a wide-ranging interview published Tuesday. Throughout the cover story, Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, touched on her Minneapolis community, the uprisings that took place in her city after George Floyd’s killing and community protests of “decades and centuries of brutality.” “There are a lot of leaders who will talk about needing to have empathy because there’s a degree of separation from the pain that people are feeling,” the representative told Teen Vogue. “And it’s like, no, I’m feeling that pain as well, as a part of that community.” Hirsi, 17, Omar’s eldest of three children, also talked about her passion for the Minneapolis community, noting that she had taken a “big step back” from organizing on a national level to focus on her community. “ … I think doing shit for my community is so much more important, and that’s what I’m doing now,” the activist said. me trolling my mom made it on print!! thank you @TeenVogue for shedding light on this pressing issue! https://t.co/76hyMhfG6u— isra hirsi (@israhirsi) October 27, 2020 Last month, Hirsi landed a spot on Fortune’s 40 under 40 list that highlighted influential leaders in government and politics. The 17-year-old, who co-founded the U.S. Youth Climate Strike, was recognized for her activism surrounding racial and environmental justice. Hirsi regularly uses Twitter and TikTok as platforms to discuss politics, systemic racism and social justice issues. She told NBC News last year that she had never labeled herself as an activist growing up but that she had always had the mentality of “wanting to change the world.” “I grew up going to protests as a kid,” Hirsi said, noting that the first protest she remembers going to was when she was 6 years old. Like Hirsi, Omar similarly uses her Twitter account as a platform to discuss progressive policies and often to denounce racist attacks — like from President Donald Trump, who regularly spews racist remarks about Omar. On Monday, Omar retweeted an interview she did with NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock, in which she addressed Trump, who referred to her and Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) as “AOC plus three” during the final presidential debate last week. “The president has really carried himself in the most trashiest and disturbing ways,” Omar said. She later added, “You are having a hard time distinguishing him from a pro wrestler in the ring, in the ways in which he speaks. It’s quite disrespectful to the office that he holds and the kind of leader that he is supposed to be … ” On Tuesday, Pressley celebrated Omar and Hirsi’s Teen Vogue cover, writing on Twitter that they are the mother-daughter duo “the movement deserves.” I love the truthtelling \”directness\” of @IlhanMN & @israhirsi, their vision for a just world, & the urgency with which they pursue it. They are the mother daughter duo in good the movement deserves & our TL needs. Stunning @TeenVogue. https://t.co/XiDl1cDoyx— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) October 27, 2020 Read Teen Vogue’s entire cover story on Rep. Ilhan Omar and Isra Hirsi here.
