Omar: This is a year of the faith being tested.

Hashmi: I got a call from our Imam.

He said, “Our mosque is on fire.”

Reporter: A fire rips through a mosque in Victoria.

Hashmi: Please, God, let it be an accident.

Di Carlo: We don’t want any kind of a witch hunt.

The fact that this was a mosque raised many red flags.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a hate crime.

There is a home grown terrorist.

Emett: Both the defense and the prosecution
are gonna be challenged to find any partial jury.

Omar: Victoria is at a crossroad.

Abe: I am a Muslim and I have every right,
like anybody else.

Susannah: You can no longer sit by and say,

“This isn’t my community.” Because it is.

Lanell: They’re praying.

Everybody says, “We are all in it together.”

But I don’t think that’s the case.

Omar: Why did our mosque get burnt?

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the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

a private corporation funded by the American people.

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The National Endowment for the Arts.

And by contributions from viewers like you.

Thank you.

The Independent Lens and Reel South co-presentation
of “A Town Called Victoria”

was made possible in part by

the Ford Foundation.

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Antisemitism, Racism and Extremism initiative,

with principal support from the Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta

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through the New True Stories Grant.

Islamic Scholarship Found.

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And others.

A complete list is available from PBS.

Eisenhower: I should like to assure you,
my Islamic friends,
this place of worship is just as welcome
as could be a similar edifice of any other religion.

Rice: The United States has long historic interest
in the Persian Gulf.

Man: We have tried every possible and feasible effort
to resolve this crisis.
Reporter: The 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda terrorists
ignited a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment.

Bush: States like these, and their terrorist allies,
constitute an axis of evil.
Obama: These Americans are as patriotic
as any other members of the American family.

Clinton: We are not at war with Islam.

Khan: We need to show what the real religion of Islam is.

Trump: Total and complete shutdown of Muslims
entering the United States.

Reporter: Thousands of people have gathered
to protest this executive order.

Khan: We cannot solve our problems by building walls.

Maddow: And that fire started just a few hours
after the new president signed his executive order.

Abe: Today’s story is about the people.
People living in a town called Victoria.

[Bells tolling]

[Laughing]

Morning, Dave.

[Laughing] The last person?

Hey, this… it could be a good omen.

Are you…? Good.

Yes, ma’am.

[Bells tolling]

Omar: I may not be a Texan by birth, but…
I mean, I’ve lived in Texas more than I lived
in my home country.

So by all means, I’m a Texan.

When I came to the States, I did not speak any English.

…turned out weather just like this.

Back in 1983, I couldn’t go back home
because of the civil war in Lebanon.

That’s my home country.

Currently, I’m a physician recruiter
at a local hospital here.

I’m trying to bring people to Victoria.

When I first came to Victoria,
I kind of enjoyed the slow pace.

About four years ago, I actually even ran for mayor here.

Long time. Good to see you!

Likewise, good to see y’all.

Unfortunately, I lost.

Nonetheless, I had a good run.

Have we provided homeless assistance there?
We have.

Omar: I believe you have a duty to give back to your community.

I’ve loved every minute of it, and they have loved me back.

[Cheering]

Attack, attack her!

[People shouting]

[Clapping]

Abe: I’m half Palestinian, half Egyptian.

I grew up in a place with a lot of fighting and wars.

I wanna live in peace
and not have to worry about anything.

One of the things I remember when we first moved here
is the sunshine.

I never imagined I’m gonna end up in South Texas.

But fate sometimes leads you here.

Another good thing about Victoria,
there is a mosque in town.

You can ask every member of the Muslim community
and they will tell you,

Dr. Hashmi is like a father for the community.

Hashmi: I came from Pakistan in 1971.

Looking for warmer weather, we moved to Victoria.

I’m a practicing general surgeon.

Our family was the second Muslim family to move into town.

Quite a few more Muslim physicians came in.

We started praying at each other’s house.

There was nothing, no place of worship
for us to get together.

So we started to dream about building our own mosque.

I designed some of the original planning.

You could say personal touch in it.

Omar: We opened it in May of 2000.

[Chatting]

Walking through the doors of that mosque,
you’re greeting your fellow Muslim friends,

We pray five times a day.

As you enter the prayer hall,
the Imam gives a sermon.

[Speaking Arabic]

Osama: I stay in the mosque more than even my own house.

[Chatting]

Hashmi: Victoria has been very good to us.

In the community relations,
raising our children in this town.

We are proud Texans.

Like the Texans say that I wasn’t born here,
but I got here as quickly as I could!

Yes.

Abe: You gotta remember, this is before 9/11.

So things weren’t really as bad,
and I don’t think many people know what Islam means
or cared where you’re from.

My grandmother
who lives here in Victoria,

she’s 89 years old.

I introduced her to Omar,

She thought he was Spanish.

[Laughs] So anyway… Yeah.

When I told her
he’s from Lebanon and he’s Muslim,
she had this automatic fear issue
because of 9/11 and all of that.

Carter: Good morning, good morning.

He’s Wade, I’m Carter.

Wade: Welcome to the show.

Carter: 75 in Victoria, heading to a high today of 87.

Wade: It will be interesting.

Carter: Another day in Victoria! Wade: Yeah, no kidding.

I’ll give a hello to everybody checking in on Facebook.

Don’t forget to like and share!

Uh, Adam says he dressed up
as a Muslim terrorist.

You know, by the way,
I think that’s hilarious.

These are people that are trying to blow up
your bases all throughout the Middle East.

That’s exactly right.

If the shoe fits, shine it!

Omar: When I decided to run for mayor,
several people actually did send emails saying,

“You are a Muslim, why isn’t it on your website?”

Or, this person was accusing me
that I would be implementing Sharia law
once I’m elected as mayor.

In the 22 years I’ve been here,
the vast majority of people have been extremely nice.

They judge me for the person I am
and what I do for the community.
[Laughing]

Armstrong: I have no problems with Omar,
but I didn’t think Omar could get elected.

I was mayor, nine years.

You can just look at something

and know, this’ll work and this won’t work.

That’s not the Victoria way to do things.

90,000 people living in this county.

But we’re still a rural area.

Man: There’s always been…
I hate to use the word, but racism.

And it goes way back.
The good old boys
still have a lot of power.

And it’s a shame,
because we should be way past that.

Sara: I’ve been here for… it’s my entire life.

When you’re looking at Victoria as a whole,
unless you know several different people
from a few different backgrounds,
you’re not gonna really get the whole picture.

It’s conservative, man.

It… it… it’s conservative.

Deep down you can feel it.

Ricky: Our family’s been here since the 1800s.

Parents taught us to just to treat everybody the same.

Some views come in here, you know?

I watched a guy,
when President Obama won the first term,
he was sitting in here and he got his chair
and he turned his chair backwards.

And I’m like, wow!

Keith: So something you just learn
to just laugh.

You just kinda keep it to yourself.

Woman: Victoria’s also very segregated in many ways.

Like, I didn’t grow up
ever knowing anything about Muslims.

I mean, I grew up, okay,
there’s whites, there’s Browns, and there’s Blacks.

Susannah: You know, I have Christian friends
who say things like,
“Oh, he’s a good Christian boy.”

I just don’t think they understand
what it means to somebody who isn’t Christian.

Doesn’t matter how good I am,
I can never be a member of this club.

Wade: Just animal instinct.

You congregate with like beings.

If you look at it from another perspective,
you can say, yeah, it’s self-segregating.

This is not utopia. We’re still a work in progress.

Victoria’s a very tolerant city.

Hashmi: I don’t think we’ve had
any disturbing kind of relations with anybody.

Sara: But you can be basically living right next to each other
and have a completely different life experience growing up.

The result of that is you’re getting
a lot of intermixing of people that normally wouldn’t mix,
and it’s creating a kind of a culture clash.

And I don’t think
that we’re as prepared as we could be socially
for something like that, without some kind of fallout.

Fireman: Like that!
Howdy, howdy!

Howdy, how are y’all?

Trump: I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear…

Roberts: That I will faithfully execute…

Trump: That I will faithfully execute…

Roberts: The Office of President of the United States.

Trump: The Office of President of the United States.

The forgotten men and women of our country
will be forgotten no longer.

[Cheering]

From this day forward,
it’s going to be only America first.

America first.

We will reinforce old alliances and unite the civilized world
against radical Islamic terrorism,
which we will eradicate completely
from the face of the Earth.

[Cheering]

Jon: Our newspaper is a local newspaper,
so we generally do not touch national news.

We did not report on that story ourselves.

I think we just reprinted an AP wire story.

Trump: Protection of the Nation
from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.

President Trump’s Executive Order barring…

Reporter: …218 million people…

Reporter: …from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

He wants the country to learn the lessons of 9/11.

Reaction continues to pour in
to him signing that executive order.

Reporter: Demonstrations took place across the country.

Set the refugees free!

Jon: It was very late.

I remember I was just about to turn the lights off
when I got a phone call from our city editor.

On his way to his house,
he noticed an enormous plume of smoke.

He said, “Something very big is burning out here.”

[sirens wailing]

[distant sirens approaching]

Hashmi: At 2:00 AM, I got a call from our Imam.

He was crying.

Uh, he… he said, “Our mosque is on fire.”

I remember hanging up and just rushing to change.

I just quickly changed.

I didn’t even tell my wife at that point.

I looked at Lanell and I said, “Hey, we gotta go!”

Abe: Before I hit the main street,
I rolled the window down
and I took a big sniff of air and I could smell the smoke.

And that’s when I hit my head and I said, “It’s bad.”

[Sirens]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[loud crashing]

Madigan: We were the first truck there.

Flames were coming out the back.

It sounded like a torch or a jet engine.

[Fire crackling]

Firefighters were already there
pouring water on the… on the fire at that point.

[sirens]

Taner: The building starts to come apart.

[crashing]

We were all there.
Just watching it across the street.

The fog, the rain, the mist, the firefighters…

All the stuff just… just didn’t feel real.

Hashmi: We were all crying.

And just watching it burn down completely.

Abe: We were here like a few hours ago.

All of a sudden, this place is on fire?

Hashmi: We prayed our morning prayer
right across the street
while the fire crew was still working.

We just started questioning as to why?

Why this was happening.

Madigan: One of the members, the spokesman, Abe.

His daughter played soccer with my daughter for many years.

But I didn’t know till that night
that he was a member
or anything really about him.

Jon: Fire at the Victoria Islamic Center
has been extinguished.

I was looking for anyone I could get information from.

Just the fact that this was a mosque on fire

When I posted my videos of the fire to Twitter,
the reaction was overwhelming.

Reporter: An Islamic center and mosque in Victoria
caught fire early this morning.

A fire rips through a mosque in Victoria.

Reporter: In Victoria, Texas.

The Victoria Islamic Center.

Victoria, Texas.

Victoria, Texas
is about a hundred miles southwest of Houston.

And that fire started actually just a few hours
after the new president signed his executive order,
banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Reporter: As pro-Muslim voices rose,

so too did the flames in Victoria.

Polasek: We’re just puzzled
by some of the reactions from outside people
that seem so eager to tie events together.

Oh, this was tied to the travel ban
or tied to this or that.

I just… I’m not going to get into that.
\
At this point,
we have no knowledge of what caused the fire,
or whatnot, as you know.

Reporter: Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric
may have emboldened some people.

Those mouthy liberals.

You never see a quiet liberal.

Wade: What appalled me a little bit
is you had media sites, I mean, the fire wasn’t even out
and they were calling it a racist incident.

All sorts of sensationalist headlines.

Legler: Lots of metal still hanging on the roof.

Abe: Yeah.

Just be real careful
with anybody walking around here.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

Hashmi: When you walk into that burnt grounds,
you know something was not right.

Something was just not right.

I think at one point Fire Medic Goss here
mentioned that the meter wasn’t there,
’cause we were trying to shut…
to look for the power to shut the power off.

That just seemed kind of odd.

Taner: Let’s just say for simplistic sake
that there is some kind of accelerant
that was found in the building.

And now you gotta figure out who put that accelerant there.

So it’s all the research, it’s all the interviews,
it’s… it’s…
all those other aspects of it.

Let us get to that point
without making a judgment one or the other.

Hashmi: We were just praying.
Please, God, let it be an accident.

Abe: I didn’t want to see everybody
crying and worrying, you know?

So we posted that we’re gonna have a service…

Open to the public, the next day at 10:00 in the morning.

Omar: Driving down to the mosque,
we didn’t really know
how many people are going to show up.

Abe: I can handle tough situations,
but beautiful shows of kindness makes me…
makes me weep.
And to see this crowd,
these beautiful faces,
it’s the power of healing.

The people like you, every faith, every color,
every nationality,
showing their support.

This is the Victoria we know,
this is the Victoria we love

and this is what we wanna remember out of this tragedy.

Man: Yeah, thank you.

[Clapping]

Oh Allah, please protect us
from the fears that others fabricate against us.

As we all stand before you, one united city of Victoria,
one nation under God
and his believers of the Creator. Ameen.

[Clapping]

Hashmi: Somebody asked me,

“How would be the reaction of Victoria?”

And I said, “I can tell you in one word: united.”

[Clapping]

This place is like my… one of my children.

It’s hard on everybody, it’s hard on me.

But our faith teaches us,
when you face hardship, be patient.

Man: Amen.

That is the basic teaching of Islam.

That is what Islam,
it means submit to the will of God. Period.

We will rebuild, God willing!

[Clapping]

Clara: I was just like shocked, first of all.

How in the heck did that fire ever get started?

You’re hoping beyond hope it could be accidental.

Good people of whatever race, culture, creed…

They don’t deserve that.

It upset me really bad. Made me real angry.

Reporter: Well now for a little good news,
on a community coming together during quite a challenging time.

We don’t know what caused the fire,
but we do know it ignited the passion of the city.

Reporter: Schoolchildren have marched to the mosque
to give support.

Gary: If their attempt was to splinter the community,
it backfired, cause really what it did
was the entire community banded together.

Victoria is showing America that we can get along.

I felt sad that these people of faith
have to go through such a… a trauma.

They were gonna be faced with an enormous loss.

As we were standing across from the mosque
and watching the fire, I told Abe, I said,

“We need to get in touch with the insurance right away.”

And he looked at me and he said,

“We don’t have insurance on the mosque.”

Lanell: My nature is to solve problems.

I’m into fixing things.

I said, you know, everybody does these GoFundMe things,
let’s try it and see what happens.

People want to help.

If given the opportunity, they will.

Reporter: Thousands of people have donated
through an online GoFundMe page.
You’ve got nearly a million dollars.

Hashmi: We’ve got nearly…

Reporter: From almost 20,000 people.

Hashmi: Correct. In three days.

Exactly. This is unbelievable.

This is unbelievable, and so uplifting.

That material outpouring to that little Muslim community
in small town Texas. That GoFundMe page?

It’s well up over a million dollars now.

I think it’s shown the true character
of the people of Victoria. Yeah.

Omar: The love and support and the kind words.

They want us to continue
to be part of the American fiber,
to be part of this community.

It was really, really tremendous.

Osama: [Praying in Arabic]

[Praying in Arabic]

[Praying in Arabic]

[Praying in Arabic]

[Praying in Arabic]

Jazakallah for everybody coming,
and we welcome all the guests that are here.

Sorry, this is our temporary quarters.

We have, of course, potluck tonight.

Our tradition is for the last 20, 25 years,
we’ve been doing this for every Friday night.

And Inshallah, Inshallah,
when the new building gets built,
we’ll have a much bigger gathering on that day
for a grand opening and you all will be invited.

So enjoy the company, enjoy the food.

[Chattering]

Amjad: Come on, guys!

Mommy, water!

[Speaking Arabic]

Yes, yes, yes!

[Chattering]

Abe: I remember seeing Jon at the scene,
and as a reporter, he, you know, he is asking questions
and you got your notebook or something, and he said,

“Can I interview you? Can I have your name?”

And I… and I kind of brushed him off.

I said, like, pretty much,

“Stay away from me,” you know?

Since then I’ve been nicer.

You were not bad, you were great.

Abe: I’ve been in Victoria since ’99
and what I do for a living, I’m Heidi’s husband.

Just kidding, I run my own business.

It’s a medical staffing agency.

I’m an English professor at Victoria College.

He had been living in Omaha,
Nebraska, which is where we met.

And he was graduating with his bachelor’s
and he said,

“You should join the International Students Club.”

I said, “But I’m not an international student.”

“Oh, that’s okay, you know, you’ve traveled,
so you’ll get to know some people.”

Well, that would be a good way to make friends.

I said, “How many people are in the group?”

He says, “Well, if you join, there’ll be two.”

Good line, wasn’t it?

[Laughing]

Heidi: I had no idea
what a Muslim was when I met him,
but he was funny and he was charming,
and I kept thinking,

“I can’t believe he’s from the Middle East

and he’s not saying anything bad about America!”

And, you know, clicked in my head and I thought,

“Oh my God, I’m biased! I had no idea!”

[Cheering]

We only dated for six weeks before we got married.

I had told my parents about him.

That he’s Palestinian and Muslim,
and they didn’t care.

You met him… Doris: Yeah.

Two days before our wedding.

Yeah. November of ’97.

[Laughing]

Heidi: All right!

The day we got married,
I’d given my dad a Palestinian scarf,
and he came out wearing it.

[Cheering]

“I, Abe, take Heidi.”

I, Abe, take Heidi.

“To be my wedded wife.”

Doris: Oh, look at that. Woman: All right!

[Cheering]

Heidi: I really liked Victoria when we moved here,
but I’d lived in Texas before.

He was a bit shocked by the smaller town,
until we found that there was a mosque,
which surprised us.

Even people who support us
have had this idea that Muslims are “other”.

They still say it.

It’s… they belong in our community
and they are part of it, we’re Americans!

I mean, many of us were born and raised here
and others are naturalized citizens.

It’s just our faith is maybe a little bit misunderstood,
you know?

You have to be willing to talk to people
who are different than you are,
and come to them with somewhat of an open mind.

And I would argue the Muslim community
has that responsibility too.

[Laughs] No, no, no, no.

So the challenge is how do we get our congregation
involved in the community at large?

I think some feel that if they get involved,
they lose their sense of identity
and their sense of culture, but you can do both.

You fasted all day, then you have this?

Correct, every night here. Pretty good.

There is fasting
in the Jewish tradition, isn’t it?

Yom Kippur, we fast. Just one day?

Can I switch sides? 30 days to one!

[Laughing]

Gary: As soon as I was aware of the incident,
I offered them the keys to the synagogue.

I said, “If you need a place to meditate or to pray,
or just to gather, you know? Our doors are open to you.”

It didn’t take a meeting of the board
or a meeting of the congregation.

It felt like it was the right thing to do.

This is the arc.

Ten years ago…
some kids spray painted the temple with swastikas.
And yes, that was terrible,
but I think that in our history,
we know these kinds of things can happen.

Jews have to be aware of this all the time.

Omar: When you are in a small town
and you are a minority,
we have almost the same struggle
when it comes to the practice of our religion.

Taner: I don’t care what you believe,

I don’t care what color your skin is.

I care about you as a person,
and if you’re hurting, I’m hurting.

And if you need help, I’m here to help.

Probably within about two hours of the fire,
we were already making contact to some state agencies.

ATF showed up
and they started calling in the cavalry.

We had close to 25 different investigators.

We had teams going out and canvassing neighborhoods,
doing interviews.

We had the teams that were digging out the scene.

At this point in this investigation,
there’s no evidence to indicate that it is a hate crime.

Craig: I wanna point out that I really think
it was the Islamic Center leadership
that did not play into that. They would not do that.

It’s not about Democrat versus Republican,
black versus white, Muslim versus Christian.

It’s not.

How easy would it be to come out and say,

“This is because of this political incident,
or this is retaliation for, or this is hatred,” you know?

When you get the outside influences,
that want to create more of a problem,
but that’s not our community.

We are a city, with our biases,
still are there to meet the needs of other individuals,
because that’s our duty.

And I’ve been in Victoria all my life.
My father was pastor for 50 years.

Even in the time of segregation,
we got along well with all people.

Filmmaker: Do you feel like some parts of Victoria
might still be segregated?

Oh, I don’t feel, I know they are,
but I don’t focus on that. I pray about that.

If we focus too much on the negative,
then we lose the value of where we need to be.

Onward Christian soldiers

Marching as to war

With the cross of Jesus

Four or five years ago, First Presbyterian
asked me to preach their Pentecost.

So the churches began to have a great relationship.

Bob: I am a Justice of the Peace here in Victoria.

We’ve lived here for probably about 35 years.

Our two churches are physically
only about a quarter of a mile apart.

Mount Nebo was going to go through a remodeling.

Hobbs: So Bob Whitaker said,
“Well, how would you like it if we join you all
for worship service in our sanctuary,
because our pastor is retiring?”

I thought it was a great idea.

The incident of the mosque hurt me.

Then to hear the president put a ban on Muslims.

And we knew that was coming from the… from the campaign.

To segregate one group is wrong.

So the more congregations work together,
the stronger Victoria becomes.

Because when things are unified, it’s hard to split.

It was God’s Grace God’s Grace

It was God’s Grace God’s Grace

I made it this far I made it this far

Hobbs: Listen! If you know anything about God’s grace,
I don’t care what house you’re in,
you ought to tell the Lord thank you,
because of His goodness, of His mercy, of His kindness.

When you look back over your life,
if you don’t know that you’re alive,
you ought to tell Him thank you!

Woman: Thank you!

Hobbs: He says, “Remember!”
Remember the good things that He has done for you.
And when you remember,
you gotta hold your hands up and say, “Lord, thank you!”

[Cheers]

[Clapping]

Certainly Fred’s delivery and style is different
from what we were used to in this church,
but I think it’s been good for us.

One thing about Victoria,
is very nice about our community.
We have not…
suffered through the…
the real hard race relation problems
that other areas have had.

Victoria’s been fortunate
that we’ve been able to escape that.

News Anchor: We interrupt
your regularly scheduled programming
to bring you a developing story.

We have an update regarding the Islamic Center of Victoria.

We have now confirmed the blaze was intentional.

This according to the Houston field division
of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives.

Our Sarah Duran joins us live from the fire marshal’s office.

Legler: Today, the City of Victoria
has issued a press release
stating that the fire is transitioning
into a criminal investigation,
indicating the fire was intentionally set.

The mosque and Victoria Crimestoppers
has established a reward for any information
leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect.

Abe: [Praying in Arabic]

[prayer in Arabic continues]

Omar: Dr. Hashmi,
hoping for a silver lining.

But quite frankly,
I knew that it was intentionally set.

You know, it’s kind of like giving you,
the Muslim community, an eviction notice.

You don’t know what they are capable of doing.

What is next for them?

Are they going to be targeting those spokespersons?

It was no coincidence that the fire
was on the night of the travel ban on Muslims.

Hashmi: When I go to prayer early in the morning,
I look around every corner, even in the dark,
to make sure that somebody
is not hiding behind a bush or something.

One of us will stand outside while others pray inside,
just to monitor.

Abe: Today we installed cameras at the building.

What is this?

A movie or a dream?

Like, it felt like that person or persons that did it
are watching us.

[Groans]

Allen: I was a Baptist minister for 32 years.

I was a pastor for 24 and a half of those years.

I was in deep with all the preachers

I was constantly amazed at some of the things

I heard preachers say about Muslims.

I went out of my way in my preaching
to try and correct those views.

I was pastor of this particular church here in Victoria
for 18 years and 10 months.

There’s a friend of mine, not really my friend anymore,
since he got all crazy about Donald Trump.

He was telling me,

“Man, I sure wish somebody would just come down
and burn that thing down. We don’t need
those kinds of people around here.”

I already kind of knew how they felt about Islam.

Most of them were just pretty much of the opinion
that it was a demonic cult.

There are a lot of Christian people in Victoria
that believe that way.

White supremacy is not confined to the South.

It never has been.

But it has a much tighter hold on the South.

Because, you know,
people in Victoria used to own slaves.

I remember one time,
one of the deacons here at the church,
we were praying about something
and I asked him to close in prayer.

And he was going…
he started going on about these terrorists.

“Oh God, put them in their place,”
and then he started naming all these other groups of people
that needed to be put in their place,
like “the uppity Blacks and the Mexicans”,
and I was like, “oh my God!”

That idea of “place” is very prominent
in the Southern Confederate,

Neo-Confederate way people think,
is that, you know, everybody has a place.

“I’m better than you.”
Righteous white people
are gonna have to stand up and…

I think it’s time to leave.

Righteous white people are gonna have to stand up
and say, “Hey,” you know?

“We need to change this.

Heidi: If you turn to 426,
a couple more pages to look at,
and then we’ll start brainstorming.

I’ve seen a real change in the last few years.

People are more divided in their opinion.

It takes a lot longer to try to convince them
what is logic and how do you back it up.

I don’t actually tell them my religion.

I occasionally get a lot of Islamophobic things.

I had a woman last year write a paper
on how Syrian refugees were a threat to the nation
because they were terrorists.

And I sat down with her and would ask her questions,

“Why is this a problem? What do you mean by this?

How do you know this?”

And she would, “Oh, you’re right, you’re right.

Oh, I didn’t think of that. Oh, you know, you’re right.”

But initially that’s what she’d heard.

I don’t get upset that easily anyway,
but I try very hard not to show my viewpoint.

[Bell ringing]

[Chattering]

Sana: Me and my sister are the first people
that wore hijab here, you know?

And so that’s like an open,
obvious statement of “you’re Muslim”.

I was so angry, so, so angry after the arson.

After that, I really got to know Sana,
because then you have to ask the tough questions,
like, “How are you feeling?”

I know people are gonna see me as this representation of Islam.

So I feel like I can’t be a bad Muslim.

Like, I don’t wanna be a bad person.

So people are gonna look at me and think like,

“Maybe Muslims are like this.”

Sara: Things like that don’t surprise me anymore,
because it’s so common
that awful, awful things like that happen.

You know, like it would be this town…

It would be this town that that happened in.

We’re just very limited with…

I guess the way the town’s set up.

I don’t know if that’ll ever change.

Emett: Josie, weren’t you the first elected Hispanic woman
to city council?

Josie: Yes, it was a challenge.

We’re just as good as anybody else across the table,
but you’re always questioned.

Representing the south side, it’s the Hispanic population.

They feel like they’re left out.

They feel like they’re not ever getting their streets done.

Their problems are never taken care of.

Sometimes it’s discouraging,
because if you go knock on the door and you say,
you know, “I’d like for you to vote for me.”

Sometimes they would say, “What for?”

My family could care less about politics.

After I was elected,
I can’t tell you how many times…

My dad had cancer
and I would bring him to chemo,
and then I would tell him, I said,

“Dad, I’ve gotta run by the office,
so come with me.”

He would not walk in that courthouse.

He said, “They didn’t want us there when I was a kid,

I don’t have any business there now.”

Would never, has never been in that courthouse!

My dad would tell me stories
about how they would go
pick cotton in West Texas.

It would say
“No dogs or Mexicans allowed”
in the restaurants.

He tried really hard
not to reflect on that so much.

But I could sense it. I could still see it.

Gloria: You know what?

It takes time also to get out of that.

To feel comfortable and confident enough to say,

“I’m important, yo soy quien soy.”

We were able to break that cycle,
to get out of there.

But there’s so many people that haven’t.

You need to elect a representative
that’s from your neighborhood, from your barrio, so to speak.

That has experienced some of the same things.

I don’t know how we get that across
to our community,
especially in the Hispanic community.

That’s the hard part. Absolutely.

Omar: And they forget
about the people in the district.

And they only come see you when they want your vote again,
so they can get elected again.

Everything south, it’s not Victoria.

And then everything to the north,
that’s the Victoria “we only care about.”

And I think Democrats, Republican, Libertarian,
Independent, I don’t care.

They’ve all been basically bought out!

Emett: Once you become elected,
you’re supposed to represent everybody.

Regardless of party.

But this is a red district right now.

Right. Very red.

It’s like blood red!

[Laughs]

Emett: When the mosque burned, because of Omar, you know?

My personal relationship with him.

I wrote a check the next day and sent it to him.

Called him up, “Where do I send a check?”

Josie: Omar ran for mayor!

So he’s very popular in this, you know, community.

Emett: Omar running energized the community
and brought a significant amount of people out to vote,
probably for the first time.

Really showed that, wow,
the community is moving in a direction
where they’re willing to accept, the non-traditional candidate.

[Laughing]

Cris: Non-traditional.

Omar: I consider myself
to be a very good ambassador of the religion,
a very good ambassador of immigrants.

During my 22 years here,
I’ve been the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce,
the president of the board for the United Way twice,
served on the board of the YMCA,
been the president
of the Victoria Community Theater twice.

I’ve almost served really
on every nonprofit organization in Victoria.

Armstrong: Omar’s done a good job for this community,
but Omar’s from a very, very, very small minority base.

Sometimes they just don’t understand.

This is South Texas,
progress is made one funeral at a time.

It’s not wrong. It’s not right. It’s just the way it is.

Omar: Victoria is at a crossroad.

I don’t want to tolerate such racism and discrimination.

Hobbs: The Muslim community is a quiet community.

They don’t bother anyone.

To invade a family is an act of terrorism.

Wade: The division is hyped up by the media.

I don’t see it on a daily basis.

It wasn’t a sense of a lot of hate.

That’s not our community.

Keith: I think if we could start
doing more community things together,
everybody kind of blending in and not just one-sided,

I think people can start respecting each other.

What happens to one happens to all, I believe.

“They’re Muslims and they’re different,” no!

They’re people just like we are.

Allen; We need to say, “This is no longer acceptable
and we’re gonna call you other white people on it
when it happens!”

You can no longer sit by and say,

“This isn’t my problem. This isn’t my story.

This isn’t my community,” because it is.

Abe: I am a Muslim and I’m an American,
and I have every right like anybody else!

You know what?

We’re gonna rebuild this thing, because we’re staying.

Reporter: A man questioned today
regarding the Islamic Center fire in Victoria.

Reporter: 25-year-old Marq Vincent Perez
will remain in detention after learning
about his possible connection to the mosque fire.

Reporter: Perez is being described
as an anti-Muslim right wing extremist.

Reporter: Officials obtain and execute a search warrant
on Perez’s home here in Victoria.

They can paint him
any which way they want to,
but we know the true heart of Vince.

They took from me my son.

My right hand.

I don’t have rose colored glasses.

I realize that sometimes
you need to take a harder look
at your children,
but I know for a fact my son has a good heart,
and he would never do a heinous act
that they’re discussing. Never in a million years.

Never. Never.

We are Latinos, Hispanics, Mexicans,
whatever you want to call us,
and we have not had any,
any type of support at all!

None.

Mario: The persons that did this…

This tragedy to these people,
are currently out there.

[Praying in Arabic]

Hashmi: Oh God.

In the time of this trial…
please, give us peace. *

-Marq Vincent Perez is charged with damaging and defacing
a house of worship.

Abe: There is a terrorist.

He actually lives in Victoria.

Emett: He’s innocent till proven guilty.

The government will need to prove their case.

Susannah: I hope he can get a fair trial here.

I do think that we’re a fair enough community.

Allen: There are a lot of folks who are white supremacists,
they just don’t realize it.

Abe: We’re celebrating together.

We are not succumbing to hate.

Lanell: We all wanna think we’re all neighbors…
but I don’t think that’s the case.

Woman: “A Town Called Victoria”
is available on Amazon Prime Video.

Woman: I didn’t grow up ever knowing anything about Muslims.

I hate to use the word, but… racism. \

News Anchor: A fire ripped through a mosque in Victoria.

Hobbs: When the president put a ban on Muslims…

Omar: People need to get angry.

Emett: What happens to one, happens to all, I believe.

Woman: Independent Lens is made possible in part by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
a private corporation funded by the American people.

Acton Family Giving.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Wyncote Foundation.

The National Endowment for the Arts.

And by contributions from viewers like you.

Thank you.

The Independent Lens and Reel South co-presentation
of “A Town Called Victoria”
was made possible in part by…

The Ford Foundation.

The WNET groups Exploring Hate:
Antisemitism, Racism and Extremism initiative,
with principal support

from the Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment

to Fight Anti-Semitism.

Firelight Media.

Independent Filmmaker Project and HBO,
through the New True Stories Grant.

Islamic Scholarship Fund.

Austin Film Society.

And others.

A complete list is available from PBS.