Does Religion Matter? Time to End Profiling
Engy Abdelkader
Posted: 04/20/2012 4:26 pm
Congress recently held a hearing titled, "End Racial Profiling in America." The scope of the hearing was unique in so far as it was not only limited to the experiences of African Americans and Latinos but encompassed the American Muslim one, too.
While African Americans and Latinos have long complained about racial and ethnic profiling policing tactics, religious profiling only became more visible after 9/11.
Following the attacks, for example, thousands of Muslims were detained and interrogated but none were ever criminally charged with any ties to 9/11. More than a decade later, religious profiling by federal, state and local law enforcement persists.
Consider the routine course of international travel, for instance. Upon returning home to the U.S., American Muslims are regularly selected for secondary security screenings and interrogated about their religious views and practices -- the sort of stuff that is supposed to be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/engy-abdelkader/does-religion-matter-time-to-end-profiling_b_1437189.html