T-Shirt Inscription Keeps Iraqi Man From Boarding Flight

[sabra]

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/63716

T-Shirt Inscription Keeps Iraqi Man From Boarding Flight
WNYC Newsroom

NEW YORK, NY August 29, 2006 —An Iraqi architect says he was not allowed to board a Jet Blue flight at JFK because of the Arabic inscription on his t-shirt.

REPORTER: Raed Jarrar was wearing a T-shirt that read We Will Not Be Silent in Arabic and English, when he was approached by security officers. The officers said the Arabic script was upsetting other passengers, and told Jarrar to either turn the shirt inside out or wear something else. Jarrar protested but finally wore a T-shirt provided by a Jet Blue employee.

JARRAR: I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes. and i know that these things happen. But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the U.S. Especially that I moved from Iraq because of the war that was waged in Iraq under titles like democracy and freedom.

REPORTER: A spokesman for Jet Blue says the airline is investigating to see if the security officers were with the airline, the Transportation Security Administration or the Port Authority. He also said the airline does not forbid Arabic T-shirts, but that it does take into account the concerns of its passengers.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. So, if he had a T-shirt that said, oh

We will never forget

or

The South Will Rise Again


or


was, say white


This would not be a problem, huh?

[yellowcanine]

3. How about "Eine Volk, Eine Reich, Eine Fuehrer!"? My guess is he would

have been ok with a t shirt like that.

[xchrom]

2. the passengers were ''willing'' to let him fly

as long as they coudn't see the arabic print?

:crazy:

[Hav]

5. .

Lol, good point.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

14. sure...I can read arabic

most of us americans can. :sarcasm:

[xchrom]

17. lol -- it just seems so strange --

i mean they've SEEN it already.

people are endlessly weird.

[CoffeeCat]

4. I don't know if this is related, but...

The founder and president of Jet Blue is a hard-core, right-wing, religious nut.

He is a buddy of Glen Beck and they both attend the same Mormon church.

[saigon68]

16. Glen Beck is a Drunk and a Hateful Right Wing Nut-Job

[Ian David]

24. Are you sure? JetBlue is 68% Democratic..

$13,000 to Democrats
$6,250 to Republicans
$0 to Others
$19,250 in Total Contributions

Fast-growing JetBlue Airways is counting on low fares to keep its ledgers jet-black. Based at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the carrier offers one-class service -- with leather seats and DIRECTV -- to nearly 30 US cities and Puerto Rico. It has established a second hub at Long Beach Airport outside Los Angeles. The airline relies entirely on electronic ticketing and it keeps its turnaround times down by choosing less crowded airports located near larger cities. It's paying; the carrier has almost cracked the top 10 US carriers (it's ranked 11th based on revenue passenger miles).

More:
http://www.buyblue.org/node/1244/view/summary

Are you sure you're not thinking of Song?

[CoffeeCat]

25. I'm positive it's JetBlue...

...This guy was on Glenn Beck. Beck has talked about how they are
friends and attend the same church.

Beck had him on last week.

I'm completely positive.

Edited to add: I just Googled "Glenn Beck and JetBlue" and
some hits come up, naming the CEO as a guest on Beck's program.

The JetBlue CEO was discussing coal-to-liquid technology
and presenting/lobbying his energy ideas to politicians.

[Ian David]

28. Well, I won't be flying JetBlue again. Thanks for the heads-up! n/t

[pinniped]

6. At least they didn't find out while in flight and divert the plane....

to the Aleutian Islands or something.

I guess this is good news since the plane actually took off and wan't diverted.:crazy:

[YankeyMCC]

7. So it's official

the American public is a bunch of wimps who can't stand any little disturbance of their quiet lives.

(not that I think his shirt should be disturbing, the point I'm trying to make is no one wants to be 'disturbed' in the sense of being provoked to think or even just be a little uncomfortable)

[Hav]

8. .

It could be worse. Just imagine what it would be like if the public is finally so scared, that they just lynch everyone who remotely looks like an Arab.

[wakeme2008]

9. OK this was pre-9-11 but at the Univ of Michigan logo shops

you used to be able to get UT tee-shirts in many languages including Arabic. I know because I brought one for a Saudi friend.

[ThomCat]

30. That would get you on a terrorist watch list now.

Only terrorists use Arabic for anything, you know. :eyes:


Especially those Arabic numbers. That's a sure sign. :P

[warrens]

10. A nation of wusses

We're turning into a nation of whiney little punks, just like our preznit.

The complaining passengers should be boxed about the ears and told to grow a pair.

[MadHound]

11. "but that it does take into account the concerns of its passengers."

More like it takes into account the blind bigotry and ignorant hatred of its passengers. These are the same fucking idiots that won't step foot into a local coffee shop because the owner's name is Osama:crazy:

[Kickoutthejams23]

12. Ha That's Nothing

I have seen some pretty disturbing t-shirts with a bloody shirtless long haired hippie type that say Jesus is my Homeboy. Obviously they belong to a violent offshoot of the Latin Kings or something. I don't know why these gang bangers are even allowed on a plane.



(Do I really need the sarcasm tag here?)

[Nihil]

13. Woo-hoo! T-shirt opportunity!

"The only people to object to this shirt are those too ignorant
to understand it."

(Printed in Arabic with a French translation underneath :-) )

[grilled onions]

15. what if...

..the "dark side" starts wearing pro Bush Tees? Will guards start letting their guards down if they spot one of these? :crazy:

[daleo]

18. The inscription is quite ironic

He had to hide a T-shirt saying "we will not be silent".

[sabra]

19. remember, they hate our freedoms

:sarcasm:

[Spacemom]

20. Spreading freedom and democracy

How's that working out for ya? :eyes:

[IronLionZion]

21. Oh you'd be surprised what happens in airports

They'll pull you aside for not looking like your name. I'm darker than the darkest arab, but I still have a Christian name that can best be described as "presidential". The TSA always thinks I'm suspicious. They get really flustered when they hear my southwestern Pennsylvanian accent.

Recently I've started wearing a cross chain but people still don't get it.

On a related note, I'm not sure how strong airline security really is, because I found out that my suitcase took a different flight than me to the same city. That makes me feel real safe.

[RebelOne]

22. This is really not new. It happened last week. n/t

[Richard Steele]

23. If the 'passengers' were so upset, let THEM stay on the damn ground.

Frankly, I wouldn't care to be on a plane with anyone
so hysterically stupid that they fear a damn t-shirt.

And, I have to really wonder if these 'upset passengers'
really exist, or were they just a bullshit excuse from
a security guard who felt like bossing someone around?

Are there any complaints ON RECORD from any of these
'upset passengers'? Do we have their names? Did any
one SEE any 'upset passengers'?

God, this is all just such utter BULLSHIT! :banghead:

[High Plains]

26. I'm so proud of my fellow countrymen. Not.

Home of the brave, land of the free, my ass. What a bunch of racist chickenshits.

[High Plains]

27. People should not be able to force other people off a plane...

...without being willing to be publicly identified as the idiot yokels they are. If you're so scared of a goddamned t-shirt, let's hear you say it out loud so we can subject you to the ridicule and scorn you so richly deserve. This is one chickenshit country these days.

[Gregorian]

29. Isn't this week-old news? Or has this happened again?

I think this is the same incident that was reported a week ago. But that still doesn't justify goons denying us our civil rights.

[BlueEyedSon]

31. How about this one?

It says "I am not a terrorist"



http://itsnotallbad.com/iamnotaterrorist/

[w4rma]

32. Except this man's shirt had the translation, in English, on the shirt.(nt)

[poverlay]

33. I am so pissed off by this! kick n/t

[americanstranger]

34. What pathetic little scared bunnies we've become.

Big, Bad Americans, scared of fucking words.

- as

[darkism]

35. Read more and get your shirts here:

http://www.parkerstudio.com/AAW/aawhome.html
http://www.parkerstudio.com/AAW/JFK_story.html

[Kailassa]

36. Present standing orders for all American and English airlines.

The aircraft may mot take off until at least 3
passengers have been hassled for being (possibly) Muslim.

You can't blame the airlines themselves. Sometimes these
Muslims just won't co-operate by carrying water or playing
with mobile phones. So petty excuses have to be used instead.

[magellan]

37. For those not aware, Raed Jarrar is also the blogger of Raed in the Middle

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

Nothing up on his blog yet about his little run-in with Jet Blue, but he was interviewed on Democracy Now! about the incident over a week ago (Aug 21st). Strange that the "liberal media" didn't report this till the 29th, huh?

I'm actually surprised it got any coverage outside DN! at all.

[ConcernedCanuk]

39. Raed posted it on his Blog August 10th - Titled " Back from the Mideast"

.
.
.

A WEE part of his story - -

around 8:30, two men approached me while I was checking my phone. One of them asked me if I had a minute and he showed me his badge, I said: "sure". We walked some few steps and stood in front of the boarding counter where I found out that they were accompanied by another person, a woman from Jet Blue.

One of the two men who approached me first, Inspector Harris, asked for my id card and boarding pass. I gave him my boarding pass and driver's license. He said "people are feeling offended because of your t-shirt". I looked at my t-shirt: I was wearing my shirt which states in both Arabic and English "we will not be silent". You can take a look at it in this picture taken during our Jordan meetings with Iraqi MPs. I said "I am very sorry if I offended anyone, I didnt know that this t-shirt will be offensive". He asked me if I had any other T-shirts to put on, and I told him that I had checked in all of my bags and I asked him "why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights". So I answered him "I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt".

Then I once again asked the three of them : "How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn't this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?" so inspector Harris answered "you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank". I said "but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says "we will not be silent". I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan, you can google them or email them at [e-mail] . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc." Inspector Harris said: "We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don't have a translator. Maybe it means something else". I said: "But as you can see, the statement is in both Arabic and English". He said "maybe it is not the same message". So based on the fact that Jet Blue doesn't have a translator, anything in Arabic is suspicious because maybe it'll mean something bad!

/snip/

She asked, what kind of t-shirts do you like. Should I get you an "I heart new york t-shirt?". So Mr. Harmon said "No, we shouldn't ask him to go from one extreme to another". I asked mr. harmon why does he assume I hate new york if I had some Arabic script on my t-shirt, but he didn't answer.


Lots more at http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

Should I get you an "I heart new york t-shirt? - yeah right

they hate y'all for your FREEDOMS??

I think y'all lost them in 2000

[ima_sinnic]

38. oh right! terrorists always wear t-shirts calling attention to themselves!

for all we know, despite the English "translation," the inscription probably said, "I am going to hijack the plane and fly it into the Corn Palace." :eyes:

[zreosumgame]

40. everyone by now should know the numbnutz-con motto

sit DOWN and SHUT-UP, and you had dammed well better ENJOY the flight or we will render your ass