Representative
Ilhan Omar responded on Sunday to the son of a victim of the September 11 terrorist attacks, who called her out for previous comments about the attacks that critics found dismissive.During the memorial service for 9/11 victims at Ground Zero, Nicholas Haros Jr., who lost his mother, 76-year-old Francis Haros, in the attacks, wore a shirt emblazoned with the phrase, "some people did something" on the front, the phrase Omar used to refer to the attacks.After reading the names of some of the victims, Haros Jr. repeated the phrase and pointed to his shirt."Today I am here to respond to you exactly who did what to whom," he said. "Madam, objectively speaking, we know who and what was done.""CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties," the Minnesota Democrat said earlier this year during remarks to the Council on American–Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, a comment that sparked outrage among conservatives and some families of victims."So 9/11 was an attack on all Americans. It was an attack on all of us and I certainly could not understand the weight of the pain that the victims of the families of 9/11 must feel, but I think it is really important for us to make sure that we are not forgetting the aftermath of what happened after 9/11," Omar responded Sunday on CBS when asked about Haros Jr.'s criticism. "Many Americans found themselves now having their civil rights stripped from them, and so what I was speaking to was the fact that as a Muslim, not only was I suffering as an
American who was attacked on that day, but the next day I woke up as my fellow Americans were now treating me as a suspect."Haros Jr. appeared to accept Omar's goodwill, saying the congresswoman had "showed respect for the loss of families. And that was a good thing."