When Federal Power Is Turned Against Black Women in Leadership, Our Democracy Is at Risk
By Glynda C. Carr
Twenty-two days before a national election, with early ballots already being cast, federal agents arrived at the home of a sitting member of Congress with a search warrant.
That alone should give every American pause, whatever their party and whatever they think of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
The questions are simple. Why now? What made this search so urgent that it could not wait until after Election Day? And who signed off on it?
These are fair questions, and the American people deserve answers.
For decades, the Department of Justice has followed a clear principle in election years: law enforcement may not time investigative steps to affect an election, and it should take special care with highly visible actions involving candidates in the weeks before voters go to the polls. That principle does not freeze investigations. It exists because a raid on a candidate’s home cannot be un-seen, and the damage happens whether or not anything is ever charged.
Congresswoman Omar is not above the law. No member of Congress is. But she is entitled to the same due process and fair treatment as every other American. When the government takes an extraordinary step this close to an election, the burden is on the government to explain it.
And we cannot look at this week in isolation.
For years, Congresswoman Omar has been singled out. A sitting president told her to “go back” to the country she came from, questioned her loyalty to the nation she serves, and turned her Somali heritage into a punchline at rallies. She has received death threats. She has endured a level of hostility no public servant should face for doing her job.
We have seen this pattern before, and not only with her.
Attacks on Black women in public office have become routine. They come as misinformation, as personal smears, as threats, and as relentless efforts to question whether these women belong in the seats voters elected them to fill. Too often, the attacks have nothing to do with their records or the issues facing the communities they represent.
There is a cost to this, and we all pay it.
Every minute a Black woman leader spends defending herself is a minute taken from her constituents, and from the fight on the issues they care about most, from the cost of gas and groceries to fair elections. Every threat is a new security burden for her family and her staff. And every public attempt to intimidate her sends a message to the next woman deciding whether to run: this could be you.
That is why we stand in defense of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
We are asking for three things: a public explanation of why this search could not wait, assurance that it followed the department’s own election-year guidance, and oversight from Congress to ensure federal law enforcement is not being used to settle political scores.
You do not have to share Congresswoman Omar’s politics to want those answers. You only have to believe that the next administration, of either party, should not be able to do the same thing to someone you voted for.
In the coming weeks, Americans will decide who represents them. That decision belongs to voters, not to whoever controls the machinery of federal law enforcement.
Standing in defense of Black women has never been about shielding anyone from accountability. It is about making sure accountability is never used as cover for retaliation.
That should matter to all of us.
Glynda C. Carr is President, CEO and Co-Founder of Higher Heights for America, the political home for Black women, building a national movement to harness Black women’s political power and leadership. Higher Heights works to expand Black women’s representation, strengthen their civic participation, and ensure Black women have the power to shape the policies and decisions affecting their communities and our democracy. www.higherheightsforamerica.org.
