‘It definitely trickles down’: Muslims in Texas suffer effects of Republicans’ hate speech

Muslims say anti-Islamic rhetoric making everyday life difficult – and threats and harassment not uncommon

Following a brutal Republican primary runoff in which Islamophobia took center stage , anti-Muslim hatred continues spilling into public life in Texas.

Texans say that the hate speech shared by elected officials is increasingly echoed by people in their everyday interactions, including discussions about education or interactions at a store, in a park, at university and at elementary school. In one case, students at the University of Houston were praying when a man approached them and burned a Qur’an. In other cases, people have been verbally attacked for wearing traditional garments.

“It definitely trickles down,” said Naila Syed, a Dallas resident and member of the Islamic Center of North America Council for Social Justice. Syed says her two young daughters have been confronted with anti-Islam “talking points” while at school. A fellow student asked them if they knew that followers of Islam treated women poorly. “To have a kid who has these points ready and memorized like this is just very concerning as a parent,” Syed said.

Multiple people said the hatred has made them uncomfortable venturing outside of their own home by themselves. Others requested the use of a pseudonym because they’ve already been the subject of threats and online harassment. Recently, Muslim attendees at the official Texas GOP convention – including some delegates – were told to convert to Christianity or leave the country. About the same time, a woman was filmed verbally accosting two Muslim women in a grocery store.

“Islam is a terrorist organization, not a religion,” the woman said. “This is not a Muslim country; this is a Christian country.”

A fundraiser for the woman who made the comments has raised nearly $145,000 as of this writing and drawn support from Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace. Mace and other lawmakers, including Brandon Gill, also a Republican, have repeatedly cast Europe as a cautionary tale for what happens when people from Muslim-majority countries are allowed to immigrate elsewhere.

Mace and Gill, a fellow Republican who represents Texas’s 26th congressional district, have introduced legislation that would bar or suspend immigration to the US from countries such as Somalia. A recent email from Gill to his constituents was titled “Stop Islamic Immigration Now or Our Children Will Pay the Price”.

“I represent DFW,” Gill wrote, referring to Dallas-Fort Worth. “I have watched these communities transform in real time. I know what the trend line looks like, and it does not end well if we do nothing.”

He doubled down on those remarks in an interview with Fox News, saying of immigration from Muslim-majority countries, “This is something that if we don’t stop now, it’s going to be my daughter and daughters across the country who are going to public schools wearing burqas.”

Similar vitriol has become part of the Texas Republican party’s official platform. At the party’s convention in June, one of the legislative priorities was “Don’t Sharia Our Texas”, effectively calling for the criminalization of Sharia law. Experts have pointed out , time and again, that no individual or institution has been trying to implement Sharia law in Texas.

Sharia refers to more than just the law; it’s a moral code, derived from the Qur’an, that followers of Islam live by. As one convention attendee pointed out, he was practicing Sharia that very moment.

One of the convention’s Muslim attendees, whom we’ll call Omar, previously spoke to the press about the way he and others were treated while in attendance. He requested a pseudonym because he’s since been attacked online by strangers.

Omar has repeatedly said he does not harbor resentment toward all of the Texas GOP because of this incident and pointed out that several people stood up for him when he was singled out for his religion. But he was rattled by what he heard at the convention, where Muslims were repeatedly called terrorists and told to leave the country.

“We care about the issues that every single American cares about,” Omar said. “We are family people, we are fathers, we are husbands, we are employees, we are employers.”

“This is not the America I believe in,” he added, “but I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere.”

Shehla Faizi, a Green party candidate for the state comptroller seat, was dismayed but not surprised by the bigotry of the GOP convention.

“It was only a matter of time before something like this happened to a Muslim who always backed Republican,” she said.

Faizi says part of the reason she’s running as a third-party candidate is because neither of the two major political parties have done a good enough job standing up to hatred. She was also motivated because of the lack of Muslim representation in her state’s halls of power. (For instance, Texas only has two Muslim legislators). In response to the recent spate of racist incidents, she said: “These are the things that inspire fear and anxiety for Muslims running for positions of power.”

What racism does, she said, “is cause people to shrink themselves in a sense in their everyday lives. It’s a psychological suppression, because you are shrinking yourself to just be sure that you are not attacked.”

Syed, the mother of two from Dallas, recently experienced something similar at a state board of Education hearing in Austin, where board members debated sweeping revisions to Texas social studies standards.

The proposed rewrite would place greater emphasis on American exceptionalism and Judeo-Christian influences while reducing or removing some lessons related to slavery, segregation and civil rights. The changes would also scale back some instruction on world cultures and religions.

In a room of about 50, Syed saw at least half a dozen speakers object to lessons about Muslim civilizations and the role of Islam in world history. Sitting in the audience, she felt many participants were speaking about Muslims rather than to them. A speaker would misconstrue a passage from the Qur’an, and the women seated next to Syed would nod their heads and softly clap their hands.

“I was just in shock,” she recalled. “I would just look at them and be like, ‘Hello, I’m right here. I’m a visible Muslim. I wear the hijab.’”

Shortly after the meeting, the Republican-controlled board of education advanced their proposed social studies rewrite, trimming back lessons on civil rights and slavery. Syed worries for her students’ education, but just as disturbing is the trend she sees in the rewrite and the public comments during the meeting.

“It starts with demonizing one group, and then it moves on to another group, another minority group, and another minority group and so on,” she said.

She said her organisation has tried to secure a meeting with members of Texas’s “Sharia Free” caucus of lawmakers, but so far, all of their attempts have been unsuccessful. Members of the caucus did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.

If a meeting ever happens, Syed wants to explain what Sharia actually is and open up a respectful dialogue. Yet Syed and Faizi said Muslims alone shouldn’t be tasked with addressing and condemning the racism they face.

Dr Suleman Lalani, one of Texas’s two Muslim legislators, founded the state house’s interfaith caucus in response to politicians using religion as a weapon. He hopes, through conversation and dialogue, Texans can come to understand and respect one another more than they do right now.

On 23 June, the same week as the board of education meeting, Lalani hosted a panel in Houston on “the politicization of faith”. Imams, rabbis and reverends joined him and other lawmakers for a discussion with the local community.

“Ignorance leads to fear, and fear leads to hate,” Lalani told the audience. “When we engage with one another, we learn from each other, raise awareness, unite, and make progress.”

“We are all being used as a tool,” said Christian Manuel, a Democrat and state house representative from south-east Texas. “They are weaponizing people’s ignorance.”