A ‘Muslims Only’ Swim Party and the Backlash That Followed - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/us/muslim-swim-party-texas.html?emc=edit_ufn_20260706&nl=from-the-times&segmen
C’est toujours au nom de tous et toutes que les dominants s’en prennent aux dominés quand ceux-ci veulent se réunir indépendamment. L’universalisme est le cache-sexe des dominants, le refus de réfléchir à leur domination. Leur pouvoir est « naturel », « universel », « pour tous », alors même que leur pratique est cadrée, dirigée vers certains secteurs seulement et farouchement opposée aux capacités d’auto-détermination des dominés ou des minoritaires.
On May 5, Ms. Knight updated the event’s website to explain that no one would be excluded, so long as they followed the dress code. “If you are a friend of a different faith who wants to celebrate the Eid holiday with us and adhere to the modest dress code,” she wrote on the website, “this event is FOR YOU TOO!”
The City of Grand Prairie appeared to be on her side, issuing a statement that day saying that the water park was allowed to be rented out for private events.
Ms. Knight hoped it would blow over. Then Gov. Greg Abbott weighed in.
The Texas governor has been increasingly willing to use his control over state funds for public safety as a way to force changes from local governments. He did so in April in a showdown over immigration enforcement in Houston. And on May 6, he did so again to stop the water park party.
In a letter, Mr. Abbott’s public safety office told the mayor of Grand Prairie that Ms. Knight’s party was “discriminatory,” and warned that the city would lose $530,000 from the state, if the event were allowed to go on. By then Ms. Knight had posted that the event was open to all, but in the letter the governor’s office pointed to a “frequently asked questions” portion of the event website where it still said the park had been “exclusively reserved for Muslims.”
The governor left no doubt of what he wanted to see.
“The City must cancel the event and commit to never allowing something like it again,” Mr. Abbott wrote on social media.
Hours later, the city said it had canceled the party. A spokeswoman for Grand Prairie said the move was “in the best interest” of the city.
A spokesman for Mr. Abbott said the governor had called for Ms. Knight’s party to be canceled because local governments may “not facilitate discrimination at taxpayer expense.” He did not explain why canceling the party was necessary even after Ms. Knight said it would be open to all.
For Ms. Knight, whose personal cellphone was listed on the event flyer, the letter spurred an onslaught of calls, texts and online messages. At first, she answered a few of the anonymous calls, including one from a woman who identified herself as a Baptist and started off wanting to know “what you Muslims are up to.”
Ms. Knight, who was driving at the time, stayed on the line for about an hour, mostly listening. The woman later softened and expressed some empathy.
“I just appreciate that you’re talking to me,” the woman said. “In Christianity, we get mocked too. The atheists are constantly taking us down.”
Ms. Knight talked with reporters as well, looking to explain herself, maintaining the hope that, somehow, her event could still go on, now that the flyer said that anyone could attend.