The fear of racial profiling since 9/11
September 4th, 2007 by Farah PikeOn Jan. 25, 2003, a 17 year old high school student was waiting in a security line at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The female student was traveling to Lincoln, Neb. for an athletic recruiting visit at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
When it was her turn to pass through metal detectors, she was immediately asked to step aside for no evident reason. She was then subjected to further searching. Two male airport security officials insisted she pronounce her name since they were unable to. At this point, she was being asked to move to another security room for a strip search.
A female security official was then called to the scene. She inquired the two men of their motives for a strip search. The student overheard the officials speaking about the origins of her name, her race and her appearance as well. The female official took a quick glance at the student, and instructed the men to allow her to continue her travel with no further searching.
In fact, the student is Afghani and she had long dark hair and dark eyes. However, was it right for her to be extensively investigated and almost strip searched? Absolutely not.
Although the U.S. Government claims to not advocate racial profiling, the student’s experience contradicts that very fact. If truth be told, more events of racial profiling have been occurring since 9/11. However, 9/11 does not give anyone the right to profile another person according to race.
By definition, racial profiling is the inclusion of race as a primary determinant in the classification of a person considered likely to commit a particular type of crime.
It appears racial profiling has become a cover to closet racism. However, not to infer that all racial profiling is racist, but it is not a proven fact that all Arabs boarding a plane are indeed terrorists. Be that as it may, most Arabs are in fact searched and questioned no matter the circumstance.
In December of 2006, six Islamic men were escorted off a flight directed by U.S. Airways due to several matters of events. The men were reported to have been praying and chanting “Allah” while refusing further instructions from the captain. In addition, the men requested seatbelt extensions and three of the men checked no baggage, as well as carrying one-way tickets.
Five of the six men believe that it was a crime and are now filing lawsuits against U.S. Airways with the help of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
How far should racial profiling go without the act implying racism or assumption?
The answer is still up for debate because society will never really know who the terrorists are and are not.
Consequently, racial profiling may or may not prevent another 9/11, but it is indeed a tactic which is sweeping across the nation.
Amnesty International USA reports a ferocious number of 32 million people who have reported the experience of racial profiling.
Were all 32 million people guilty? Probably not, but society is betting its top dollar on suspicions and discomfort of “non-American” people in order to feel more safe while traveling by airplane or otherwise.
In addition, how are security officials so sure the prime suspects of terrorist acts are in fact Arabs?
This question may acquire several unclear answers.
On the contrary, the bombing in Oklahoma City was a tragedy heard nationwide, and the bomber was Timothy McVeigh, a white man.
In addition to high profile situations such as airplanes and city property; racial profiling has been taken to the streets, literally.
Law enforcement officers have also been contributing to the events of racial profiling.
The AIUSA reported a case where an epileptic black man who whore dreadlocks was killed during unnecessary police brutality. The man was incidentally enduring a seizure on the ground and police assumed he was on drugs because of his race. Officers threw him to the ground and placed a knee on his back which caused him to stop breathing. The man did regain consciousness and was placed on oxygen. However, he was also handcuffed and taken to the hospital where he died shortly after.
In an attempt to stop such matters, the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) has been set in motion as of 2004.
ERPA is intended to put an end to and discourage bias-informed police stops.
Consequently, racial profiling can begin on the streets and rise to more than 30,000 feet in the sky.
Whether a person is white, black, brown, blue or purple, he or she should not be put under suspicion due to past assumptions or racial stereotypes. The American society needs to step up to the challenge and practice tolerance with minimal ignorance. Although people will always be suspicious of others for whatever reason, the act of racial profiling should never be a deciding factor of accusations or convictions.
Unfortunately there is no clear solution to racial profiling because there will always be tragedies and terrorists. However, the race of the terrorist will never be identifiable.
Posted in Opinion
Wow, i feel safer traveling the friendly skies when people of suspicous origin are searched. i am in no way racist, but when 9/11 was doen by Arabs, and our troops in Iraq are killed everyday by Arabs,oh not to mention that the list of terrorist organizations are topped by Arab groups makes me nervous about Arab people. its not racism its not xenophobia its being cautious. Maybe if people didnt dress up in head scarves and black robes they might not be stopped as potential terrorist. If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck it might be a duck. better to be safe than sorry.
oh and by the way i flew to nashville a year ago and i was the random search both ways, im a average looking white guy. so other people get stopped too
We try to hold our stories to the highest degree of professionalism. However, errors do sometimes happen. Which is evidenced by the above comment.
It is also noticable that at the time of the incident the author was a minor on on her way to a track meet. I doubt very much if she was anything other than a normal looking 17-year-old.
I would like to respond respectfully to comments made towards the editorial on racial profiling. First, the student mentioned in the story was of Afghani descent, and to be politically correct, Arabs are not Afghani. This should clear up any confusion about the relationship between Arabs and people who are from Afganistan. Also, to add further detail, the student was dressed in her high school athletic clothing and had her hair tied in a ponytail. The story clearly states that the first suspicions towards the student originated from her name. Her appearance was later commented on by the security personel. I am also curious to know why people should be profiled for dressing a certain way. We should not forget the First Amendment, and remember that our great United States gave us the right to express our religion. If I am not wrong, I do not think that there is a section stating that a person can only express their religion in certain places. With that in mind, airports are no exception. I also agree that random security checks are in play at all airports, but in this case there was nothing random about it. However, random security checks should be around in case someone like Timothy McVeigh tries to board one of the planes in the friendly skies above.
ebradley wrote; “We try to hold our stories to the highest degree of professionalism. However….” That always seems to be the default excuse for PC liberal bias in all media these days…ie. “OOPS”. Propaganda is not Journalism.
Arabs are not Afghani. fine that works for me, but they look very similar. and before our war with Iraq we attacked Afghanistan and took out one of the most theocratical regimes in history. the Taliban made people from afghanistan real targets for security checks.
people should be profiled for how they dress because it is a conscious decision. for example people who go around dressing like gangsters are watched every time they go in a gas station because the people they idolize enough to dress like commit crimes every day. so going off that people who dress like suicide bombers should be checked. the person in the story was not dressed like a suicide bomber, but her heritage and ethnicity is the same as people who blow themselves up every day with our troops. if you dont want to be profiled make a difference get your people to stop killing every non-muslim and maybe you wouldnt be searched when you try to board a plane. if we would have stopped all arab-looking people before 9/11 we might have 3,000 more people in this country. the first amendmant says you can practice your religion, so go ahead and practice it. it doesnt mean that others wont be leery of your religion and want to make sure you dont have bombs on you sicne that seems to be a trademark of some religions…i.e. Islam in case you couldnt figure it out.
and as for timothy mcveigh maybe he would have been stopped if he tried to board a plane, but i am more worried about muslims than a few crazy anti-government people. especially when muslims hate not only our government but our entire culture.