Ilhan Omar in The New York Times 2010s

On Government Reform: Our democracy isn't perfect, but has tools to make it better

America in 1992 was in fact full of challenges. People identified me in ways that were foreign to me: immigrant, black. I learned that these identities carried stigmas, and I experienced prejudice as a visibly Muslim woman.

But the beauty of this country is not that our democracy is perfect. It's that embedded in our Constitution and democratic institutions are the tools to make it better. I started attending political caucuses with my grandfather, who cherished democracy as only someone who has experienced its absence could. I soon recognized that the only way to ensure that everyone in my community had a voice was by participating in the democratic process.