Salman Bhojani: I am the first Muslim elected to the Texas Legislature

(Salman Bhojani will represent Texas House District 92.) I was 21 years old on Sept. 11, 2001. Back then, I was not a politician. I was working retail, making $6 an hour, while attending college. As a Muslim immigrant to America, I watched in horror as terrorists attacked my country in the name of my religion. On that day, my heart broke twice — once for my nation and once for my faith. But soon my family and I became the enemy. In the weeks and months that followed the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Islamophobia reared its ugly head. Muslims were targeted. Mosques were destroyed. We were watched with suspicion and fear. My father was forced to close his business. We were no longer seen as Americans; we were seen as terrorists. That experience has haunted my community for more than 20 years. It also shaped me into the leader I am today. Instead of mirroring the hate and violence I saw on 9/11 and in the years after, I dedicated my life to serving my neighbors, my community and my country. In 2018, I made headlines by becoming the first Muslim and the first person of color elected to the Euless City Council.

This year, I became the first Muslim and the first South Asian elected as a state representative in Texas. And starting in January, I will be one of the first two Muslims to serve in the Texas Legislature. Suleman Lalani won election in Fort Bend County. He will share this honor with me. It is a victory for our Muslim community, which will see one of its own in the halls of the Texas Capitol. It is a victory for our immigrant communities, whose children will hear their stories echoed by their elected officials. And it is a victory for all Texans who will benefit from a new perspective at the decision-making table. I immigrated to America because it is the great melting pot; a place where everyone belongs; a place where even a Muslim kid from Pakistan can serve his neighbors as their elected representative. I was not just elected by Muslim Americans; I was elected by Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, agnostics and everyone in between. That’s America. E pluribus unum — out of many, one. But in recent years, we have seen hatred and Islamophobia dominate our politics — Muslim travel bans, anti-Islamic rhetoric and escalating hate crimes against our immigrant neighbors. The only way our American experiment will flourish is if we learn to work together across our differences. Democracy depends on community. Democracy depends on solidarity. Democracy depends on loving our neighbors.