Post-Paris "Flying While Brown" Syndrome Claims Its First Victims
Dec 11, 2015, 9:15 pm
#76
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There is a difference, and it has a distinction. Saying no threat was found is not the same thing as saying the passenger wasn't/isn't a "suspicious passenger". Governmental word games like this back up the culture of reporting of "suspicious passengers" even when the suspicions are unwarranted and built upon racist/xenophobic bigotry.
Dec 12, 2015, 1:13 am
#77
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 79
I like how even after affirming Islam is a religion, not a race, that people keep still bringing up because they are brown....even though there are fair skin Muslims in the Middle East and Europe!
It can be any race.
But anyway, U.S. Airports give people the suspicious card, just for looking different! People who are racially or ethnically ambiguous by appearance get a lot of attention from the U.S. Airport security folk because they are "dying" to know what you are to know how to label your security risk....sad, but true.
Especially when TSA do racial and ethnically profile passengers despite not doing anything wrong.....
It can be any race.
But anyway, U.S. Airports give people the suspicious card, just for looking different! People who are racially or ethnically ambiguous by appearance get a lot of attention from the U.S. Airport security folk because they are "dying" to know what you are to know how to label your security risk....sad, but true.
Especially when TSA do racial and ethnically profile passengers despite not doing anything wrong.....
Dec 12, 2015, 1:21 am
#78
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I like how even after affirming Islam is a religion, not a race, that people keep still bringing up because they are brown....even though there are fair skin Muslims in the Middle East and Europe!
It can be any race.
But anyway, U.S. Airports give people the suspicious card, just for looking different! People who are racially or ethnically ambiguous by appearance get a lot of attention from the U.S. Airport security folk because they are "dying" to know what you are to know how to label your security risk....sad, but true.
Especially when TSA do racial and ethnically profile passengers despite not doing anything wrong.....
It can be any race.
But anyway, U.S. Airports give people the suspicious card, just for looking different! People who are racially or ethnically ambiguous by appearance get a lot of attention from the U.S. Airport security folk because they are "dying" to know what you are to know how to label your security risk....sad, but true.
Especially when TSA do racial and ethnically profile passengers despite not doing anything wrong.....
However, the paranoid and xenophobic among us associate Islam mostly with brown-skinned Middle Eastern people. They do so the point of assuming that brown-skinned Sikh people from India are Middle Eastern Muslims, associating turbans with Islam.
Basically, their paranoia causes them to lump any and all people whom they hate and/or fear into one big category: brown people, Muslim people, foreign people, terrorists... the to xenophobic bigots, they're all the same and all to be equally feared.
Xenophobia is an emotion. It's not logical, and it causes people to make illogical assumptions and take illogical actions.
Dec 12, 2015, 1:37 am
#79
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Even Israeli Jews are mistaken to be Muslim, and half of them are either fair, tan, or brown.
TSA PROFILES PEOPLE more by facial structure, hair, and other factors other than skin tone...my friend who is Israeli gets mistaken to be Muslim at airports even though he is fair skin and does not have a beard.
Apparently, most TSA do not understand that there are Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, in addition to Ashkenazi.
TSA PROFILES PEOPLE more by facial structure, hair, and other factors other than skin tone...my friend who is Israeli gets mistaken to be Muslim at airports even though he is fair skin and does not have a beard.
Apparently, most TSA do not understand that there are Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, in addition to Ashkenazi.
Dec 12, 2015, 9:56 am
#80
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: SAN
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Yes, a Muslim can be any race.
However, the paranoid and xenophobic among us associate Islam mostly with brown-skinned Middle Eastern people. They do so the point of assuming that brown-skinned Sikh people from India are Middle Eastern Muslims, associating turbans with Islam.
However, the paranoid and xenophobic among us associate Islam mostly with brown-skinned Middle Eastern people. They do so the point of assuming that brown-skinned Sikh people from India are Middle Eastern Muslims, associating turbans with Islam.
As I posted earlier Indian people are commonly mistaken for being middle eastern. After 9/11 someone from India was attacked in San Diego while waiting at stoplights.
Dec 12, 2015, 11:02 am
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Dec 12, 2015, 9:15 pm
#83
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Agreed - I know several people from the ME who could easily pass for European. However many people in the US have never met anyone from the ME and only have a picture in their minds as to what a terrorist is supposed to look like which usually includes being brown.
As I posted earlier Indian people are commonly mistaken for being middle eastern. After 9/11 someone from India was attacked in San Diego while waiting at stoplights.
As I posted earlier Indian people are commonly mistaken for being middle eastern. After 9/11 someone from India was attacked in San Diego while waiting at stoplights.
It will be interesting to see what kind of incidents the Canadian Defense Minister (a Sikh wearing a turban at that) may have had or will have when flying to/from/within the US. Probably less of a problem for him if he minimizes use of US carriers and flies mostly Canadian and non-US carriers.
Last edited by GUWonder; Dec 12, 2015 at 10:02 pm
Dec 22, 2015, 8:24 am
#84
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 8
). I envy white people, black people, Latinos, Japanese, Chinese and Arab people - each of these groups can count on at least one country or group of countries where they can reasonably expect to be free from racism. In my case, I am stuck analyzing every negative experience to determine if it was due to racism or just a cranky person at the other end. It drives me crazy.
On a consistent basis, the most racist place for an Indian traveler is the Middle East.
Dec 22, 2015, 9:25 am
#85
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Yup. As someone from India, I can attest to this and it's really quite unfortunate. It's also ironic when you consider just how much Islamic extremists also hate Indian Hindus/Sikhs and the amount of racism that is shown towards Indian workers in Arabic countries. There really is no country in the world where an Indian can travel and be completely free from racist treatment (not even India itself - due to the lack of explicit laws against racism, there are many pubs, beaches and restaurants that bar Indians entry in our own country ).
). Just because there is racism in India and in "the Middle East" doesn't justify racism directed against passengers who are Indian and/or "Middle Eastern". I've never seen a "flying while brown" or "flying while black" or "flying while white" incident in India on Indian carriers.
