Frisco has experienced rapid growth in recent years, fueled by its reputation as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. The city website which estimates our current population as of April 2024 is about 233,211 people.  It also breaks down the economic statistics showing the median household income is around $145,914, the median family income of around $175,969, and the average median home value is $571,671.  All of this shows that Frisco is growing and prosperity is still good here. 

The other thing you notice in Frisco is that we are becoming more diverse each day and we think that is a good thing.  Living in a community with an eclectic diverse culture makes for a vibrant community to live in and enjoy.   As of 2023, the city website reports Frisco is 48.1% white, 26.7% Asian, 12.4% have two or more races, 9.3% are Black, 3.5% other, 0.5% are American Indian/Alaskan and 0.06% are Pacific Islander/Hawaiian and 14.5% is made of Hispanics (any race). 

Recently we heard about the Frisco Indian American Families City Council Forum.  We could not make it to the forum, but we did see video clips of it online.  We thought the dialog was good and the moderator did a good job, but we were disappointed two of the candidates (the active city council members) were unable to attend.  It did have some important faces like Texas House Representative Jared Patterson, Tony Singh from Little Elm District 2, and Burt Thakur a former Congressional Candidate and it was held at Rotate Bar & Kitchen which is an Indian-owned business.  It is events like this that show our diverse populations that they have an important voice and need to be involved. 

We wanted to dive deeper into the Indian community which is an important voting group here in Frisco.  We started looking at social media and immediately noticed there are several “social influencers” right here in our own backyard and local community.  Then we came across a post that said it is a beautiful day to be out to complete your civic duty and vote.  It tagged the Indian Association of North Texas (IANT) whose website states its primary purpose is to serve the cultural and educational needs of the North Texas Indian community.  It listed IANT as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-political, non-sectarian organization, established in 1962 and incorporated in 1976. 

Non-political?  The posts sure don’t seem “non-political” as it said to go vote and had several photos with folks holding signs for John Keating.  We also came across another post from the same influencer that details 3 candidates to vote for and is an endorsement that tagged the IANT.  It is confusing because it was not one post but multiple posts where the IANT was tagged for a political purpose. We were curious, why is the IANT involved in local elections in the City of Frisco, Texas?  Are they under pressure or being forced to get political? Why is one of its directors tagging the IANT in a clearly political post? Maybe this was the influencer’s endorsement, which is fine, but since they hold a position of influence with the IANT, should they be tagging a non-political organization? 

We could not find anything on their website that talked about how they endorse candidates, so we emailed them to ask what the process is for choosing a candidate to endorse.  We did see social media posts by the IANT encouraging people to vote but not for any one specific candidate. Do they require them to fill out questionnaires, and get interviewed by the board or a selection committee?   If they don’t endorse, and this is one person’s they should probably be clear on that to not influence others’ opinions.  Is the IANT under pressure or being forced to endorse candidates.

We want to see more voting here in Frisco and the Indian American population needs to understand the power they have as individuals by casting their vote.  The issues facing our local community as well as the state and national level make every vote that much more important.  We think holding educational political awareness events, meet-the-candidate events, and forums is fantastic.  We have trust in our leaders and influencers and if they want to endorse candidates then the public who follows them needs to know they have done their due diligence to determine who they are going to support.  Voting is crucial to changing the world in so many ways and we just want to make sure the message is fair and representative of everyone in the community not just one person’s sole endorsement.  We will let you know what we hear back from the IANT now that we have reached out to them.