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Blogs Guest Blogs Racial Profiling: The Tide Has Shifted, So Where’s The Love? By Nolan L. Cabrera
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Blogs Guest Blogs Racial Profiling: The Tide Has Shifted, So Where’s The Love? By Nolan L. Cabrera | Racial Profiling: The Tide Has Shifted, So Where’s The Love? By Nolan L. Cabrera |
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| Written by Foresight | |
| Friday, 21 March 2008 | |
  This is not the case if your name is, for example, Mohammed. If you look Arab, wear a turban, or speak with the accent of a Middle Eastern country, you might as well come to the airport with no luggage and wearing only a thong. Anything more, and you will be “randomly selected” for additional screening. Racial profiling still exists against Blacks and Latina/os, but there has been a sharp increase in this practice against Muslims (and all who look Muslim to untrained, xenophobic, American eyes). I don’t think I would have such an issue with this practice of racial profiling if it was administered uniformly across the board. I seem to remember a number of other perpetuators of domestic terrorism named Kaczinsky, McVeigh, and Rudolph (the UnaBomber, Oklahoma City, and the ’96 Olympics respectively), who were White, and I do not remember people calling for angry White men to receive additional scrutiny at the airport or even while purchasing explosives. This situation was so perverse that in the wake of these atrocities, armchair Jack Bauers were bound and determined to blame Muslims when in fact it was one of their own committing these crimes. Now, as bad as this sounds, it does not surprise me when these attitudes and behaviors are expressed by White people. If you have never been the subject of constant unnecessary and unwarranted searches, you will have a difficult time understanding. However, I expected more from communities of color. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the (unfunny/unoriginal) joke told by a person of color that goes something like this: “In the wake of 9/11, I’ve heard a lot of Muslims saying, ‘(in a bad Middle Eastern accent) Why is security following me? What have I done? That is racial profiling.’” (returning to their own voice) “Welcome to the club Achmed! Don’t try to look to (Blacks/Mexicans) for sympathy on this one because we’ve been dealing with this for years!” I’ve seen this joke played out both on tv and in person, and the effect is the same. I don’t laugh, and the people around me tell me to lighten up. The reason I don’t “lighten up” is because we all have a common understanding that racial profiling sucks. This “guilty until proven innocent” perversion of justice is unwarranted, produces questionable results, and serves to alienate communities of color. So, why are my Black and Brown brothers and sisters lacking empathy for this obvious case of racism? Instead of alienating our Muslim brothers and sisters, why don’t we embrace them? Why don’t we join them in the collective struggle against racial profiling? Instead, we would rather keep our heads in the sand like a group of ostriches, who are content with injustice as long as it is not happening to us. I am reminded of the poem “First they came…” by Pastor Martin Niemöller: When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. And, if you think I am being paranoid, just ask Maher Arar. Comments
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