Flying While Half-Arab (and Half-Jewish). This One Is Shocking. [View All]

[Mass]

Well, this paranoia frightens me and it is sad that the media and the government are not doing anything to diffuse that.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/flying-while-half-arab-and-half-jewish-this-one-is-shocking/244984/

Again, I asked what was going on, and the said judging from their line of questioning that I could probably guess, but that someone on the plane had reported that the three of us in row 12 were conducting suspicious activity. What is the likelihood that two Indian men who didn't know each other and a dark-skinned woman of Arab/Jewish heritage would be on the same flight from Denver to Detroit? Was that suspicion enough? Even considering that we didn't say a word to each other until it became clear there were cops
...
FBI Detroit spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said ultimately authorities determined there was no real threat.

"Due to the anniversary of Sept. 11, all precautions were taken, and any slight inconsistency was taken seriously," Berchtold said. "The public would rather us err on the side of caution than not."<<
...

No, it is not caution, madam. It is racism. It is very sad that the federal government (it is the FBI here, not some small town policeman) does not seem bothered. I wonder if they would have thought the same thing if the suspicious person was a young woman with a scandinavian look.