Rashida Tlaib

née Rashida Harbi (born 1976)

“I will always speak truth to power. #unapologeticallyMe”

Years in political office: 2009–2014, 2019–present

Position: member of the US House of Representatives, 2019–present; member of the Michigan House of Representatives, 2009–2014

Party affiliation: Democrat

Hometown: Detroit, Michigan

Top causes: international human rights, single-payer health care, and environmental racism

Life Story

Rashida Tlaib does not hesitate to share where she came from: the home of two immigrants from Palestine’s West Bank. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, as the eldest of fourteen siblings, and her father worked at a car manufacturing plant. The family struggled financially and, at times, relied on government assistance to make sure everyone got fed. They spoke Arabic at home, and young Tlaib learned English when she started school. She thrived in the academic world, eventually putting herself through law school. Afterward, Tlaib started working for a nonprofit that helps Arab immigrants.

The future member of Congress learned early on about Islamophobia (fear of or discrimination against Muslim people) in the United States. She often rushed to defend her mother when people reacted with trepidation to the woman’s hijab. After New York City’s Twin Towers were targeted in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, acts of fear and ignorance toward Arabs increased. Tlaib remembers her little sister coming home upset on 9/11 because, as her class watched the skyscrapers burn and tumble after being hit by airplanes apparently hijacked by Islamic extremists, a classmate asked the teacher if they’d have to kill Tlaib’s sister as revenge for the attack. Worse still was when someone called a national security hotline and claimed that members of Tlaib’s family had been acting suspiciously and could potentially have something to do with the 9/11 attacks. The FBI surrounded their house and interrogated her parents. Of course, no evidence was found to link them to any crimes. The persecution convinced Tlaib that the US needed a change. “I decided to do policy work at that moment,” she says.

In 2004 she got an internship with Michigan state representative Steve Tobocman, who eventually took her on as a member of his staff. When he reached the end of his term limit, she ran for his seat and won. In 2018, after a five-year break from politics in which she focused on activism and worked at a nonprofit law center, she ran to replace civil rights hero John Conyers in the US House of Representatives. She did not declare victory in her primary election until every vote was counted (she won by a single percentage point and had no Republican opponent in the general election). In front of the crowd who had accompanied her until the early morning, Tlaib wrapped herself in the Palestinian flag. “I won!” she said, before reconsidering the sentiment. “We won.”

Tlaib married Fayez Tlaib when she was twenty-one. The two were in love, but Tlaib says the decision to marry also had to do with getting her strict parents off her back. Though they are now divorced, the two maintain a close relationship and coparent their two sons, Adam and Yousef.

What’s on Her Agenda

As a state representative, Tlaib helped lead a fight against a toxic by-product of petroleum production called petcoke. The substance was being stored in a facility near the Detroit River, where wind was picking up the small-grained, heavy metal–infused dust and depositing it on Detroiters’ cars and houses—a serious health risk. “What is really, really disturbing to me is how some companies treat the city of Detroit as a dumping ground,” Tlaib told a reporter.

Her blunt speaking style makes her stand out in the diplomacy-centric world of national politics, for better or for worse. Hours after being sworn into Congress, Tlaib ignited a firestorm when she used an obscenity to refer to Trump. At a party organized by progressive public policy group MoveOn, she told a crowd: “And when your son looks at you and says, ‘Mama, look, you won. Bullies don’t win,’ and I said, ‘Baby, they don’t’—because we’re gonna go in there and we’re going to impeach the motherfucker.” Conservative pundits took major offense over her remark, and even some senior Democrats chastised Tlaib for what they saw as disrespectful language.

The politician has also been criticized for her belief that the Israeli government mistreats Palestinians. Many Palestinians have been displaced from their homes as more Jewish settlers, who started coming to the area in the wake of the Holocaust, move to Israel. (Tlaib’s grandmother and other relatives still live in the contested West Bank area.)

In the face of these criticisms, Tlaib has made an effort to express respect and reverence for Jewish people. In 2019 she talked about the “calming feeling” she gets when thinking about how her Palestinian ancestors welcomed the Jews after the tragedy of the Holocaust (admittedly, not a historically accurate view of the region’s history). But her views on how the Israeli government treats Palestinians remains contentious. Some conservative politicians, including Trump, skewed her words to make it seem as if she had said that she felt calmed by the Holocaust, a mischaracterization which Tlaib reports led to her receiving death threats.

Awesome Achievements

Quotables

“I want people across the country to know that you don’t need to sell out. You don’t have to change who you are to run for office—and that is what this country is about.”

“Yeah, we look differently. But we also serve and fight differently.”

“A lot of my strength comes from being Palestinian.”