New chapter for the new African diaspora?

Stephen Maturen /AFP/Getty Images 

In November 9, the world woke up and learned that a business mogul & reality tv personality who never held an elected office has become the President-elect of the United States. It was a political earthquake which is still reverberating. This is just my observation (not serious study) but I can't help noticing that no five minutes would pass without the media mentioning the name of the President-elect who dominated & played the media all along from the time he announced his candidacy. (I believe the 'main stream media' has a lot to answer about its nefarious role in carrying him over from the beginning at the expense of other candidates.)
It is unfortunate other breakthroughs have been obscured by media's obsession with what has been uttered by the ego-maniac's mouth or posted in his twitter account. The breakhtrough I am talking about is the electoral history made by a former refugee from Somalia and first generation immigrant Ilhan Omar to Minnesota House of Representatives. To my knowledge this is the first time a member of the new African diaspora will be holding an elected office. Again, I admit have not made a thorough research on the subject and I will stand corrected if others know other first generation Africans who previously won an elected office in the United States or Canada or Western Europe.

I want to point out here, that we are not taking about politicians born in Africa holding high-level

Former French cabinet minister Kofi Yamgnane

positions in the executive branch of government of their adopted countries. I am aware of such politicians who were mostly appointed or nominated to such positions and get confirmed by parliamentary committees.  When I lived in Europe, there was a Togolese born politician by the name of Kofi Yamgnane who became cabinet minster during Francois Mitterand's presidency in France. I forgot whether the same person or another first generation African immigrant held a mayoral position of certain township in France as well. Did Leopold Sedar-Senghor held some cabinet position in France before that? Perhaps. I am not sure. Monsieur Kofi might be an African immigrant who held the highest cabinet position. But it is not new for those born in Africa to be nominated and to hold high-level positions in national or local government offices of their adopted countries. In recent years, I personally know the stories of two Ethiopia born Americans who took high level administration posts in the Obama administration. One is Daniel W. Yohannes who was nominated by President Obama and later confirmed by U.S. Senate to become first CEO of Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and later the United States Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).The other is Mimi E. Alemayehou, to be a Member, Board of Directors of the African Development Foundation

When it comes to African born politicians who ran and won electoral seats to legislative bodies in the West no one comes to mind. The only Africa born politicians who won electoral contests that I have heard/read are those from Bete-Israeli community in Israel.  Some of these politicians might even be second generation born in Israel to Bete-Israeli parents and the Israeli situation is very different in terms of the circumstances & patterns of immigration to compare it with those in the West.
Hence, if indeed Ilhan Omar is the first member of the new African diaspora to have won an electoral seat in government this is a big deal. I think this opens a new chapter and leads to many wide ranging questions. Is this an indicator of first generation Africans finally giving up on their dreams of returning to their home back in Africa. Is this a sign that members of the new African diaspora are assimilating? Perhaps assimilating faster than those communities who arrived decades or a century ago from Eastern or Southern Europe? With regard to the last question, historians may know better, but I never heard that first generation immigrant from Eastern Europe, Ireland or Greek or Italy to have won an electoral office in America, Canada or Western Europe.  To name the few politicians I know such as the Kennedy brothers, Paul Tsongas, Barbara Mikulski, George Voinovich, Mikael Dukakis, Rudy Giuliani, Bernie Sanders or Nikola Sarkozy in France were elected to legislative or executive bodies but they were second or third generation born to immigrant parents or grand parents from the above regions. The only politician that I know who was first generation immigrant and who was elected to be governor in the West is Arnold the 'Gouvernator' Schwarzenneger who was born in Austria and we all know his celebrity status as World Champion and as movie star helped him tremendously.
In conclusion, I want to congratulate elected Representative Ilhan Omar on her electoral victory. This is not just personal victory embraced by her immediate family or by her local community. It is also a victory that have wider meaning for the new African diaspora community who is just beginning to claim its legitimate place in shaping the future of the new home.