Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) daughter helped organize an upcoming rally at the Minnesota Capitol to urge the incoming governor to “issue an executive order limiting greenhouse gas emissions.”
In a recent tweet, Isra Hirsi announced that “young people from across the state” will protest on January 9 to ask Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D-MN) to support their climate proposals and “demonstrate to us that protecting our futures will be a top priority for his admin.”
https://twitter.com/israhirsi/status/1079598327321292800
Hirsi, Omar’s daughter, claims that the “event is 100 percent youth led,” and is sponsored by the MN Can’t Wait climate-change organization, a self-described “movement of youth activists from all over Minnesota pushing for bold, necessary changes in our state to protect our futures from the climate crisis.”
According to an event description for next week’s protest, student protesters will “be going to Gov. Walz’s office to send a strong message that #MNCan’tWait on aggressive yet necessary climate action.”
“As the legislative session begins, we want Gov. Walz to set a bold precedent by taking executive action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and show us that protecting our futures from the climate crisis will be a priority for Minnesota,” the students continue. “This is an event led by youth, and we want as many young people as possible to join us to share our stories and speak to the governor directly.”
The youth-led organization has three specific policy priorities, including the regulation of “greenhouse gasses through statewide executive action,” the passage of a “Minnesota Green New Deal in the legislature that drives an equitable transition to a renewable energy economy and creates thousands of good jobs,” and the prevention of “all new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, such as the Line 3 pipeline.”
In a subsequent tweet, Hirsi asked Walz for his support, but he has not yet addressed the upcoming protest. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), however, tweeted her support of Hirsi, saying she is “very proud of the young people across the country organizing Green New Deal direct actions on their own.”
Very proud of the young people across the country organizing #GreenNewDeal direct actions on their own.
They will not be placated with ceremonial gestures. They want change.
Until we get fossil fuel money out of climate policy, we won’t be able to save the planet or ourselves. https://t.co/MBNxEprZu6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 31, 2018
“They will not be placated with ceremonial gestures. They want change,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Until we get fossil fuel money out of climate policy, we won’t be able to save the planet or ourselves.”
Omar also tweeted her support for her daughter, stating that “the youth of Minnesota aren’t just waiting for us to act on a federal level, they are demanding change here.”
The youth in MN aren’t just waiting for us to act on a federal level, they are demanding change here!
Change needs to happen at every level, this is what folks like @AOC and I dream of.
Let’s organize & mobilize everyone in your community, change can’t wait 💪🏽 https://t.co/HsQKLdSY3Q
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 31, 2018
“Change needs to happen at every level, this is what folks like [Ocasio-Cortez] and I dream of,” she wrote. “Let’s organize and mobilize everyone in your community, change can’t wait.”
Hirsi, like her mother, has become highly involved in Minnesota politics at a young age, and is currently the chair of the Minnesota High School Democrats as well as the political director of March for Our Lives of Minnesota, a youth-led gun-control group.
She also claims to be the “youngest worker” in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor (DFL) Party, which is the party her mother belongs to.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Isra Hirsi” by Isra Hirsi.
