Republican campaigns target Muslims in Texas

[0:00] in texas candidates running for office during the primaries have made muslims and what they call the [0:05] islamification of texas the center of their campaigns the state's top republicans have [0:11] also passed legislation and made policies targeting muslim organizations and housing [0:16] developments stephanie sai reports on how the rise of anti-muslim rhetoric and policies in the lone [0:22] star state is affecting its muslim communities on a typical friday service the east plano islamic [0:33] center is packed wall to wall known by its acronym epic the center's prayer halls are so crowded it's [0:39] resorted to overflow rooms we are now one of the largest one of the most active mosques really in [0:45] the country yasir kadi epics resident islamic scholar says mosque membership has ballooned along with the [0:52] population of the dallas fort worth metro area it's basically saturated out you know we have so many [0:58] people living in this vicinity the idea came from some of the local congregants here what if we were [1:03] to have a planned neighborhood right here you have the mosque and the community center that planned [1:09] neighborhood known as epic city began to take shape in 2024 the proposed development sits 40 minutes [1:16] northeast of dallas with about a thousand single and multi-family homes planned across 400 acres [1:23] imran chadri is the lead developer when you came up with this plan did you think it would be [1:28] controversial no absolutely not we were just developing a community which will be just muslim [1:34] friendly and we never thought that it will go this way or the direction that they have taken [1:39] last year this promotional video went viral it's a way of life a meticulously designed community that [1:46] brings islam to the forefront sparking backlash online with commentators calling it an islamic [1:53] stronghold and sharia city the online rhetoric reached governor greg abbott who vowed to stop the [2:00] project signing a law quote banning sharia compounds in texas the development was structured in a way that [2:08] requires anybody who bought a lot there to abide by sharia law the development never had a religious [2:17] requirement for would-be residents and chadri says all are welcome all of this misinformation that's [2:23] being spread from these influencers and the social media and the politicians that is not true when i say [2:29] sharia to the average american muslim they would literally think of okay i need to be kind to my mother [2:36] you know i need to you know be a good person kadi says sharia is a personal religious practice [2:42] often misrepresented by the community's critics their interpretation of sharia is not one that the [2:50] muslims of this country even understand it's a personal set of rituals ethical conduct that's [2:57] literally the association that we have of sharia is like the law of god governor abbott also ordered [3:02] a blitz of investigations by various state agencies to look into the mosque and the development [3:08] while attorney general ken paxton filed two lawsuits aimed at ending the project the department of [3:14] justice launched an investigation last may but soon closed it without finding any wrongdoing we are [3:21] going to follow the county laws we are going to follow the city laws we are going to follow the state [3:25] laws this is just like any other development and yet still the project has not gotten off the ground [3:30] right it true yes we feel that we are being targeted just because we are muslims and it's a muslim [3:37] developer the project faces an uphill battle with public perception says veteran republican strategist [3:43] vinnie minchillo when people saw you know first the name epic city hey wait a minute are you starting [3:49] a city and then they saw the architectural renderings it looks like a religious compound and not like a [3:55] mixed-use development the development has since changed its name from epic city to the meadow and [4:02] removed the promotional video from social media but minchillo says it may be too little too late [4:09] people perceive they want to be isolationist they want sharia law they want to do their own thing [4:14] they don't they don't want to assimilate there's a lot of fear about the community and what the [4:18] community's ultimate goals are is this what you want between colin and hunt counties i sure don't [4:25] the online outrage has led to local opposition and high-profile anti-islamic incidents mr lang [4:33] came here with a dead pig's head and a copy of the quran inside the dead pig's head far-right [4:40] influencer and indicted january 6 rioter jake lang staged a grotesque display outside the epic mosque [4:48] last year now i get it there's freedom of speech what is the purpose of this other than a media circus [4:55] it's not just this muslim community in east plano facing what it feels is religious discrimination [5:01] islamic oriented schools are under scrutiny in the state school voucher program brighter horizons [5:09] academy is a k-12 private school with 1200 students in nearby garland it's like any other religiously [5:16] oriented school like a catholic school or a jewish day school we have the same secular subjects as part [5:22] of the curriculum the same clubs and recreational activities sports and whatnot and then we have [5:29] three other supplementary religious classes you can call them one of them is the arabic language [5:35] and then the other two are religious religious courses asan sayed attended brighter horizons in [5:40] the 90s soon after it opened and now sits on the board of a non-profit that oversees the school [5:47] when texas launched its school choice program offering families more than ten thousand dollars per [5:53] student enrolled in approved private schools sayed says it was a tremendous opportunity to finally get [6:00] an infusion of some public funds to the school through the students hopefully giving us access to [6:08] more resources being able to accept more students brighter horizons had long met the accreditation [6:15] requirements but when the list of schools approved to participate was released earlier this year it was [6:21] excluded without explanation so were several other islamic private schools in texas it caused so much [6:29] confusion honestly with our current parents and new parents after the school joined others and sued the [6:35] state for discrimination texas added brighter horizons and other plaintiffs to the school choice eligibility [6:41] list they're still suing it's about uh keeping the requirements consistent and fair every year [6:49] sayed says he believes the school's exclusion was part of a broader turn against muslims in a political [6:56] game radical islam is a bloodthirsty ideology from the senate campaign of john cornyn and sharia law has [7:04] no place in american courts or communities to a recent speech by ted cruz sharia law shall never be allowed [7:12] in the united states of america gop strategist vinnie manchillo says the muslim community has become a [7:19] boogeyman in state politics i think to many people's minds the the immigration issue with regard to the [7:26] mexican border is either you know solved or or heading toward being solved so so we feel like okay that's [7:33] that that's going on this is the next logical step in an immigration concern is there any nuance in any of [7:40] this or like or is every conversation about muslims in texas fraught and you know politically rot right [7:49] now there's zero nuance it is really as close to an on off switch issue as you can get which is pretty [7:55] rare in the world of politics we see it pop in polls and now naturally you know politicians and [8:02] campaigns are reacting to that political rhetoric that many of texas's half a million muslims say [8:08] doesn't match their reality like ahmed osman an 11th grader at brighter horizons i don't think [8:16] anybody in the school wants to like take over texas or anything like that i think like most people [8:21] just want to you know be accepted without getting any weird looks or any whispers stuff like that like [8:27] most people do he considers himself a muslim an american and a texan for the pbs news hour i'm stephanie [8:36] side in dallas support journalism you trust support pbs news donate now or even better start a monthly [8:57] contribution today