\n<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>FRISCO, Texas (RNS) \u2014 When Aneela <span>Charania<\/span> approached Frisco\u2019s city council office on May 20, she said she immediately felt fear creep in. <span>Charania<\/span>, who is Muslim, had come to a public comment meeting about construction projects for a mosque and two Hindu temples.<\/p>\n<p>In the parking lot, <span>Charania<\/span>, who wears a hijab, texted a neighbor to ask if she could be escorted from her car to the room, as she feared being targeted.<\/p>\n<p>At the meeting, she says she sat through anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu and anti-immigrant comments as speakers debated whether her community belonged in the city at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really did take me back to after 9\/11, to be honest,\u201d said <span>Charania<\/span>, who moved to the Dallas suburb in February. \u201cI\u2019ve never experienced that level of hatred towards our community.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The city council meeting was one of many that turned into a public referendum on Frisco\u2019s diverse communities amid a mayoral runoff election pitting Mark Hill, a Republican business attorney, against fellow Republican Rod Vilhauer, a retired construction business owner. Vilhauer campaigned on anti-Muslim, anti-South Asian immigrant rhetoric, while Hill promised to \u201cunite our city and build a future rooted in connection, opportunity, and pride.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last week (July 7), Hill was sworn in as Frisco\u2019s new mayor after winning 58% of the vote in the June 13 election.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268182\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-427x218.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-807x411.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-768x391.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-1536x782.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-300x153.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Frisco-Texas2-600x306.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">A post by Frisco mayoral candidate Rod Vilhauer on social media. (Screen grab)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But the race, marked by vitriolic city council meetings, clashes on Facebook groups and rallies drawing conservative activists from across the country, divided the city of 245,000. And as state Republican leaders have ramped up their Islamophobic, anti-Shariah law rhetoric ahead of the 2026 midterm elections,\u00a0 the race has been seen as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/12\/us\/frisco-texas-mayor-election-muslim.html\">bellwether<\/a> of what happens when campaigns stoke anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>For decades, Republicans have dominated political life in Frisco, located 25 miles north of Dallas, and the city has been diverse, at 34% Asian, 46% white, 10% Black and 10% Hispanic, according to the city\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/friscoedc.com\/data-and-research\/demographics\">website<\/a>. In recent years, Frisco has registered anti-Muslim incidents during local elections. In 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/elections\/2020\/11\/02\/frisco-city-council-candidates-deny-responsibility-for-mailers-that-connect-muslim-candidate-to-ilhan-omar-sharia-law\/\">mailers<\/a> targeted Sadaf Haq, a Muslim running for city council, claiming she supported radical Islam and drawing suspicion over her support of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of four Muslims serving in Congress. Haq lost the election.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, residents said, the rhetoric that spilled out online and in public in this year\u2019s mayoral election dwarfed anything they had seen before.<\/p>\n<p>In late March, Vilhauer appeared on \u201cNick\u2019s Right,\u201d a conservative podcast about Texas politics. In an episode entitled \u201cCan Frisco, Texas Be Saved?\u201d Vilhauer detailed his views on Frisco\u2019s Muslim and Hindu populations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter how kind or how sweet they are, they don\u2019t want to assimilate,\u201d Vilhauer said of the city\u2019s Muslim population. \u201cAnyone who governs himself by Shariah law and the Quran \u2014 I\u2019m 100% against.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the city\u2019s Hindu population, Vilhauer reiterated unsubstantiated claims that the city owed the growth of its Indian-American population to a fraud scheme involving H-1B visas, an employer-sponsored visa that allows foreign nationals to work and live in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268184\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268184\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Laxmi-Tummala1-380x253.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Laxmi Tummala. (RNS photo\/Fiona Andr\u00e9)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For Laxmi Tummala, a Mississippi native who moved to Frisco in 2009, Vilhauer\u2019s remarks on the podcast cut deep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hurtful for anybody, but for me, this is my country, like, so what does that exactly mean when you say go back to your country?\u201d said Tummala, who is Hindu and whose parents are from India.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote wp-block-rns-pull-quote\">\n<blockquote><p>It’s hurtful for anybody, but for me, is my country, like, so what does that exactly mean when you say go back to your country?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><cite>Laxmi Tummala, who is Hindu and has lived in Frisco since 2009.<\/cite><\/div>\n<p>She and her family moved to Frisco soon after the opening of the Hanuman Cultural Center, a Hindu temple, in 2009. Now called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallashanuman.org\/about\/history\">Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple<\/a>, it is one of the country\u2019s largest Hindu temples. The temple\u2019s opening and its inauguration in 2019 marked a milestone for Frisco\u2019s growing Hindu community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In May, the rhetoric escalated when far-right Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter from Florida, appeared at a city council meeting in a bulletproof jacket to speak out against the mosque and temple construction. Lang, who flew from Florida for the occasion, used his three-minute slot to condemn the construction projects and support Vilhauer\u2019s views. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/jake-lang-far-right-influencer-arrested-texas-charge-terroristic-threats\/\">He was arrested in June in Dallas<\/a> for allegedly making terrorist threats.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour replacement is here, Americans, and it is coming faster and faster,\u201d said Lang at the May 20 city council meeting. \u201cThe Hindus and the Muslims are teaming up to take over Texas. This is not Muslims versus Hindus here. They are here to eradicate the Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, Frisco has been one of the fastest-growing and diversifying cities in Texas. From 2010 to 2020, the city\u2019s population <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/fact\/table\/friscocitytexas\/PST045225\">grew<\/a> by 71%. In 2016, the Dallas Cowboys relocated their headquarters to Frisco, cementing the city\u2019s status as a sports and corporate hub in the Dallas area. Over the same period, Frisco\u2019s Asian population jumped from 10% to 26%, and the city\u2019s white population dropped from 67% to 48%. (The city\u2019s Black and Hispanic population remained relatively unchanged.)<\/p>\n<p>During the 2026 campaign, some of the harshest attacks were aimed at Muslim residents of Frisco. In the final hours of Frisco\u2019s mayoral campaign on June 13, Azfar Saeed, a local Muslim community leader who campaigned for Hill, said he was outside a polling station welcoming voters when he said Vilhauer campaign volunteers approached, shouting Islamophobic slurs. \u201cThey were saying that our Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile, saying, \u2018Hey, vote for Rod, make sure your girls are protected,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4267980\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4267980\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webRNS-Azfar-Saeed1-380x253.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Azfar Saeed. (RNS photo\/Fiona Andr\u00e9)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Saeed and his family have lived in Frisco since 2005, and he has seen how the Muslim community flourished. He recalled how, early on, the community gathered in a rented room in a strip mall on Main Street. In 2016, Frisco\u2019s Muslim community inaugurated the new campus of the Islamic Center of Frisco, an 18,000-square-foot facility that has since tripled in size to accommodate worshippers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn our Friday\u2019s biggest congregations, people were praying outside the mosque. In Ramadan, we had to set up a tent outside to do the overflow,\u201d said Saeed, a former board member of the Islamic Center of Frisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During the election, he said he and his family had begun to fear for their safety if Vilhauer were elected. They had agreed if he won, they would \u201cpack their bags and find another place to live.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even with Hill\u2019s election, Saeed says the work isn\u2019t over, and the community needs to focus on mending divides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark Hill won, but there\u2019s also the reality that 41.8% of the people believe the hatemongers, which means that we just, we have to fight that battle every single day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>For Tummala, the election\u2019s results reaffirmed her attachment to the city. \u201cThis is my home. I have nothing to be afraid of. I believe in people \u2026 and I still believe in this community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>After the election, Vilhauer, in a Facebook post, wrote, \u201cI pray for God\u2019s wisdom for Mark so that he will be able to lead Frisco the way he campaigned he would and in a way that is best for the city and its citizens.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the mosque and Hindu temple projects are still underway; the city council said it had <a href=\"https:\/\/dallasexpress.com\/metroplex\/heated-frisco-council-marathon-over-second-mosque-and-hindu-temples-ends-with-no-action\/\">no legal grounds<\/a> to stop their construction.<\/p>\n<p>At Hill\u2019s swearing-in ceremony last week, held at Frisco\u2019s city council building, Hill called for unity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis place will always be a welcoming place for everyone in this room,\u201d said the new mayor. \u201cWe are a community that has a lot ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/07\/13\/it-really-did-take-me-back-to-after-9-11-to-be-honest-how-anti-muslim-and-anti-hindu-hate-rocked-a-dallas-suburb-elections\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FRISCO, Texas (RNS) \u2014 When Aneela Charania approached Frisco\u2019s city council office on May 20, she said she immediately felt fear creep in. Charania, who is Muslim, had come to a public comment meeting about construction projects for a mosque and two Hindu temples. In the parking lot, Charania, who wears a hijab, texted a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}