This is upsetting. Yesterday, nine Muslims, including three children, were escorted off a plane after two passengers overhead them talking about airport security:
Members of the party, all but one of them U.S.-born citizens who were headed to a religious retreat in Florida, were subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, an airport official said. But the passengers said AirTran refused to rebook them, and they had to pay for seats on another carrier secured with help from the FBI.Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began about 1 p.m. after his brother, Atif, and his brother's wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.
"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."
AirTran is defending its decision, saying that they strictly followed federal rules. Spokesperson Tad Hutcheson said, "At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them . . . Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."
"It just so happened." The fact of the matter is that if "these people" weren't of Muslim faith and appearance, this wouldn't have happened.
UPDATE: AirTran's made a recent statement saying they were not notified that the passengers were cleared to rebook a flight, even though passenger Inayet Sahin said that was not the case: "The FBI agents actually cleared our names . . .They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused." Hm.
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I have had the same conversation on airplanes a few times. On buses and trains as well. I have never had anyone give so much as a weird look for it. Of course, I'm white.
Man this angers me.
Seriously. I remember when I was 6 or 7 and I was flying with my dad and we happened to be seated in the aisle with the emergency door. There was a huge, loud discussion about safety before our seats were moved. It would make me so happy if we could get past this post-9/11 paranoia.
I also make numerous comments about the safety of the plan and the possiblity of something going wrong when flying (mostly because (i'm absolutely terrified of flying and it makes me feel better). Not once has anyone done more than laugh at me or smile sympathetically. I have made some pretty bad comments too.
-Mzbitca
As a result of that report, federal officials made the decision to order all 104 passengers from the plane and re-screen them and their luggage before allowing the flight to take off for Orlando -- two hours late and without the nine passengers.
Well, I'm glad that the Muslim passengers weren't the only ones treated to suspicion, but I'm not sure why they couldn't have been re-screened with everyone else and then allowed back on.
Actually the other passengers were moved so that bomb squads could clear the plane. I listened to the NPR segment on this and they made all the passengers file past the "terrorists". Nothing like a little bit of humiliation with your racism, eh?
God bless America!
I've said way, way worse sbout airplanes and airport security and, like natmusk said, I've only ever gotten some sympathy for it, not thrown off the plane. Then again, I'm white.
Also, I'm with alixana: why, exactly, couldn't they re-screen the Muslim passengers when they re-sreened everyone else?
My aunt once was asked if she any liquids or gels, and she replied "just some balm" without thinking about how that remark might be taken. She quickly clarified what she meant. Everyone had a good laugh about it.
On a more serious note, my cousin was once questioned endlessly about his nationality. He wears long Arab clothing and has a big beard. The security people kept insisting that he could not be a British-born citizen of the UK (he is) and he finally got so frustrated that when they threatened to never let him back into the US because he was not "cooperating," he told them to go ahead, as he never wanted to visit that country again.
People's paranoia related to Muslims and Muslim looking people can have far-reaching consequences. Remember the Florida students (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/sep2002/flor-s25.shtml)? They lost their medical internships due to the hysteria.
Personally, I "look" Muslim and my family, indeed, is. Whenever I travel, especially with my veiled mother, I make sure to keep my conversations in public from even remotely sounding like they might be violent, threatening, or relating to bombs or weapons. It's stupid that I am forced to so consciously monitor casual conversation -- I am not Muslim myself, am an natural-born American citizen, and have a father who works for a Department of Defense subcontractor with quite a high security clearing -- but someone crazy and paranoid like that Florida woman might be amongst the people at the airport, so why take a chance?
just curious, is your mom a Muslim since you mentioned she's veiled?
yes, you are right. I am a Muslim and South Asian, and I have also heard stories from Hindus, Sikhs, and even MEXICANS (and other dark skinned Latinos) who have complained of being racially profiled and targeted because they supposedly look "Muslim."
hah!
It's hilarious, because many Arabs and Middle Easterns are actually light-skinned and look white.
Wasn't the shoe-bomber guy caucasian? If you just look for all the people who "look" Muslim you're going to catch a lot of non-Muslims. They'd catch my dad and he's Native American.
My fiancee (who is Mexican but can look Indian/Southeast Asian) was once told, "We don't need any g-d Muslims in this town."
It wasn't bad enough that he was a racist douchebag, but he also had to display his total lack of understanding about world cultures in the process? Geez.
Good Bye AirTran- so many of us will not ever book a flight with you again.
And how stupid, really.
If they were actually meaning harm, so you really think they would be discussing it?
No, they'd be the quietest people on the plane.
Disgusting airline asses.
"If they were actually meaning harm, so you really think they would be discussing it?
No, they'd be the quietest people on the plane."
That's what I was thinking. If they were talking about it on the plane they'd be the worst terrorists ever!
"So, Terrorist Paul! How about those infidels, eh? They certainly are flammable!"
"I agree, Terrorist Craig! Say, did you remember to pack the bomb?"
"The bomb? Oh, you mean the bomb that will destroy the plane and take us all to Stereotypical Terrorist Heaven? Yes, I put it with my Britney Spears CDs."
"Wow, the bomb might be the least threatening thing in your bag! Ha ha ha! So anyway, yeah, terror is neat."
Bwahaha. Awesome.
... though what makes me very sad is that I could see a couple of my brother's friends completely believing that that is what a terrorist sounds like.
The fact that you're joking so openly about this leads me to believe that YOU are a terrorist.
You're going to have to come with me...
I actually wrote about this before coming here: Islam, Skin Color, and the Double Standard. But pretty much what I said is what others here have already said: a pale-skinned person can say far worse and never become a suspect.
What I find most bizarre about America's new obsessive fear about Muslims...is that the rule to follow is that the darker you are, the more scary you are. But if you're afraid of Black people simply for skin color, that makes you a racist.
Um, what?
Fear of Blacks for this skin color, heritage and random made-up "facts"= racism.
Fear of Muslims for their skin color, heritage and random made-up "facts"= National Security.
Muslims being removed from a plane isn't really a 'Feminist' issue, though it is still one we should be outraged about.
I'm kinda surprised that nobody has commented on the aspect of the story that does relate directly to feminism - only the men are directly referred to.
The people are named:
Kashif Irfan (male)
Atif Irfan (male)
Abdur Razack Aziz (male)
Kashif Irfan's sister-in-law (female)
Kashif's wife (female)
Atif's wife (female)
Kashif's sons (small children)
The men are referred to as people and the women and children are referred to as possessions of the men.