Minnesota's Ilhan Omar is all the proof we need that 2016's election will go down as one of the most exceptional contests in American history, despite its virulently Islamophobic rhetoric. A survivor of Somalia's civil war, Ilhan spent four trying years in a Kenyan refugee camp before moving to the United States with her family at age 12. After settling in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood — a community renowned for its dynamic economic and ethnic diversity — she went to work for Women Organizing Women, where she advocated for East African women seeking positions in civil leadership. Fast-forward to 2016: Ilhan stepped into such a role herself, winning a seat as one of Minnesota's state representatives.