My adopted hometown of Frisco has transformed tremendously in the 24 years I’ve lived here.
When we signed the contract to build our home in February 2002, there was one high school in the district. Now there are 12. There were about 55,000 people in the city limits, and now there are more than 245,000.
The population was overwhelmingly white back then, and now whites are a plurality, not a majority, representing about 45% of the residents. The next largest group is Asians, at about 33% – a number that makes some uncomfortable and even angry. At a Frisco City Council meeting Feb. 3, hate that has been brewing for years boiled over.
During the residents’ input portion of the meeting, speakers from outside and within the city limits used the open mic to disparage the influx of South Asian immigrants in our community. They received disturbingly enthusiastic applause.
There were also residents who defended their presence in our city.
This is what we’ve devolved to. People feel the need to justify working, owning a home, sending their children to school, volunteering, worshipping, celebrating traditions and pursuing the same rights as everyone else – all because some loudmouths complain about an “Indian takeover.”
Opinion
No doubt they spoke aloud what many have been grumbling and posting about for years. There are seedy corners of social media – Reddit and X, especially – that revel in stereotypes about people who are from South Asia. It’s difficult to discern how many posts and comments are from people who actually live here, how many are from outside rabble-rousers who wallow in bitterness and how many are from social media bots.
No matter the source, the rhetoric is abhorrent.
How does this community move forward? We can’t ignore the hate, but we also can’t give in to it. We need strong leadership from elected officials and everyday people who are willing to call out racism and stand with our neighbors in the face of comments like “Go home before you are sent back,” who are willing to have a discussion with people who use language that sounds borrowed from the great replacement theory.
We can elevate the voices of Indian Americans who live here and contribute to our ever-evolving culture in the face of those who insist that South Asians are taking opportunities that actually belong to people who have been here for generations.
Some elected officials and those seeking office started speaking out immediately. Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, wrote a Facebook post that Frisco “… should resoundingly REJECT the outright racist rhetoric … toward our friends and neighbors in the Indian community.” His post received accolades, even from Democrats, as well as comments from a few people who claim that it isn’t racist to insist that people assimilate.
Most of the current City Council members have made public statements about the meeting. Brian Livingston, whose term ends this year, wrote on Facebook, “It was overt racism, hate and anger directed towards a segment of community that didn’t deserve any of it.” Council member Angelia Pelham wrote, “… it was not at all an accurate depiction of the city I know and serve,” and council member Laura Rummel encouraged residents to “to focus on your actual lived experiences with your neighbors, rather than the noise you see online.”
Council member Burt Thakur, who was born in New Delhi and immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, spoke before the open forum began, telling the standing-room crowd, “I am so proud of everybody here who is coming to speak. I will go to my grave defending your right to speak, even if I disagree with it.”
Council member Jared Elad hasn’t issued a statement that I can find, and did not respond to my request for comment.
Mayor Jeff Cheney, whose term expires this year, said that it’s always been the city’s mission “to make those who call Frisco home feel welcome and safe.”
Of the four candidates who have filed to run for mayor this spring (the deadline to file is Feb. 12), three have issued statements.
Shona Sowell wrote, “I do not want any of our residents to feel unsafe.” Mark Hill urged people to shut out the outsiders and “amplify the good this city does.” John Keating, who is stepping down from council to run, wrote, “To our Indian community, you are home in Frisco. You belong here.” Candidate Rod Vilhauer hasn’t yet commented on the brouhaha that will no doubt resonate during election season and beyond.
Now that the conversation is out in the open, we have choices to make. I’m choosing to denounce the blatant racism and discrimination. I hope that others will join me in working to make sure our community doesn’t devolve further and doesn’t give in to the particularly insidious brand of hate we already endure from Washington.
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