This story was originally reported by Mariel Padilla of The 19th. Meet Mariel and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.
Nabilah Parkes was inside the state Senate chamber in Georgia when she first saw the video. Her Republican colleague, state Sen. Greg Dolezal, had just released a 30-second ad, reportedly made using AI, as part of his campaign for lieutenant governor that depicted Muslims terrorizing white Georgia residents and ended with the message: “Keep Georgia sharia free.” Shariah is the body of Islamic religious law.
The caption for the campaign ad, posted on social media earlier this month, said: “London has fallen. Europe is under siege. In America, the invaders who would rather pillage our generosity than assimilate are roaming Minnesota, New York, and LA. As Lt. Governor, I will fight the enemy before they’re within the gates and keep Georgia safe and Sharia free.”
Parkes, a Democratic state senator at the time, said she immediately turned around, went over to Dolezal’s desk and asked him, “What is this?”
“He refused to look at me and just looked down as if he was in shame,” Parkes said. “It was such a hateful, racist, Islamophobic video that he even came to my desk the next day and said, ‘Feel free to take a shot at me’ — as if he wanted me to even the score.”
Parkes took the shot and decided to run against him. If she wins, she would be Georgia’s first Muslim lieutenant governor.
