A rally in support of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who has recently faced an increase in death threats following her controversial remarks surrounding 9/11 and spat with President Trump, took place outside the Capitol on Tuesday, organized by the Black Lives Movement, a collective of progressive and women-focused organizations and which stems from Black Lives Matter..

Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) spoke at the rally, striking at the Democratic party for feeding into Republican efforts to attack and delegitimize the freshman congresswoman.

“…I can’t protect my sister in our own caucus,” Rep. Pressley told the crowd. “That’s not ok. And that’s why we’re here. And they are surprised that we are here, and we’ll continue to be here – because we are not going quietly into the night. Their attempts to silence us in their silence, by being complicit – their attempts to silence us through legislation, their attempts to silence us through their movements. A great activist friend of mine once said it’s not that the marginalized are voiceless it’s that they are unheard. To that I say, can you hear us now? Hands off Ilhan.”

“I cannot stand that they continue to police her [Rep. Omar],” Rep. Tlaib said. “They continue to police our words, they continue to police our positions. But I say ‘hands off!’ Hands off of the women of color that serve in the United States Congress …I’m telling you right now Ilhan, no more. No more apologies, no more policing, no more backing down.”

Rep. Omar addressed the crowd and, equated how increasing threats from white supremacists, in light of the Poway Synagogue attacks, unites the Muslim and Jewish communities.

“At this moment, the occupant of the White House, as my sister [Rep.] Ayanna [Pressley] likes to call him, and his allies, are doing everything they can to distance themselves and misinform the public from the monsters that they created that is terrorizing the Jewish community and the Muslim community. Because when we are talking about antisemitism, we must also talk about Islamophobia – it’s two sides of the same coin of bigotry,” she said. “…just this week, when we’ve had the attack in California on a synagogue, is the same person that’s accused of attempting to bomb a mosque.” “So I can’t ever speak of Islamophobia and fight for Muslims if I’m not willing to fight against antisemitism,” Rep. Omar said.

SPOTTED: Linda Sarsour attended the rally but did not make any remarks. [Pic]

By Laura Kelly in Washington, D.C.