While we covered Islamophobia several weeks ago, this story from the past weekend is a fitting reminder that Osama bin Laden's recent killing may engender more such discrimination. The oh-so-ironic story is below and here is a summary: Two imams bound for a conference on Islamophobia in Charlotte, NC, were kicked off their flight from Memphis to Charlotte by the pilot, after having passed through extensive airport security. They were able to take a later flight, but their lawyer is investigating the pilot's motives and vows to sue if it seems to have been racially motivated.
One of the imams, Masudur Rahman, made an interesting comparison to Rosa Parks:
"If the reason was security, the security was done, the security people were satisfied with us," Rahman said. "It reminded me when the black lady was kicked from the bus because of racism. That history I found today in that plane."
Read the
full story, with an accompanying video, here. There are some interesting comments as well and I admit to being impressed by the reasonable and non-discriminatory tenor of *some* of them.
Wendy Lu, this is really interesting, thanks for posting! The cycle of discrimination in the U.S. seems to fluctuate with only the white people being left out.
ReplyDeleteI hope the imams do sue! I cant imagine getting through security (I'm guessing they didn't get the fast track through security in the first place), and ready to board my flight and then being told that I wasn't allowed on board. What was the reasoning behind this besides blatant bigotry?
I've never even been patted down at the airport (yeah, I'm a white female); this is ridiculous! The pilot (and I would include the airline that the pilot works for) is perpetuating stereotypes and endorsing racism. They should not be able to base who gets on their flights on personal racist ideologies, and the airline should fire them for doing so.
This is such a complex situation, and unfortunately with the death of Bin Laden, and the greater fear that created across the nation, that this type of ethnic and racial profiling will only get worse. Last night I attended a CELL event in which Dean Hill spoke about how the death of Bin Laden will affect us domestically. Dean Hill said "we won't stop having to take off our shoes at the airports anytime soon."
ReplyDeleteSo I guess my question in this situation, obviously including my own opinion that this profiling is grossly in violation of anyone's human rights, is where do you risk violating a few rights for a majority of rights. In other words, the pilot has a right to do his job, and if he feels that it is being compromised in any way (do to an unruly passenger, a medical emergency on-board, or the suspicion of a dangerous passenger) where can he implement his right to not fly? Again, to me this was IN NO WAY affecting him doing his job, but in other cases, who decides what is fair and just?
I also found it interesting that those DEFENDING the passengers also used racial profiling in their defenses. On CNN comments discussed how the 9/11 terrorists weren't in Muslim dress, so therefore these men couldn't have been trying to commit an attack and should have been left alone. I wonder if people are aware that even by protecting these men, often they are profiling them in just the same negative manner!
Such interesting points, you guys! It is funny, though, a terrorist would have to be really inept and uninformed to try anything dressed in anything resembling "Muslim" garb. Western dress, hairstyle and facial hair were used by the 9/11 attackers. The basic point, though, is that racial profiling has been proven (will try to find some published studies I've read) to be ineffective and worse, perpetuating racism. Similarly, I believe this whole argument about losing individual freedoms to protect society is mainly bogus.
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