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On a trip back from the Middle East, Iraqi blogger and activist Raed Jarrar was not allowed to board a flight at JFK airport because he was wearing a t-shirt that said "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic. Airport security forced him to change his t-shirt saying wearing it was like "going to a bank with a t-shirt reading 'I am a robber.'"
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 wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . 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!
inspector Harris said: "You don't have to take of your t-shirt, just put it on inside-out". I refused to put on my shirt inside-out. So the woman interfered and said "let's reach a compromise. I will buy you a new t-shirt and you can put it on on top of this one". I said "I want to keep this t-shirt on". Both inspector Harris and Mr. Harmon said "No, we can't let you get on that airplane with your t-shirt". I said "I am ready to put on another t-shirt if you tell me what is the law that requires such a thing. I want to talk to your supervisor". Inspector Harris said "You don't have to talk to anyone. Many people called and complained about your t-shirt. Jetblue customers were calling before you reached the checkpoint, and costumers called when you were waiting here in the boarding area".
it was then that I realized that my t-shirt was the reason why I had been taken to the secondary checking.
I asked the four people again to let me talk to any supervisor, and they refused.
The Jet Blue woman was asking me again to end this problem by just putting on a new t-shirt, and I felt threatened by Mr. Harmon's remarks as in "Let's end this the nice way". Taking in consideration what happens to other Arabs and Muslims in US airports, and realizing that I will miss my flight unless I covered the Arabic script on my t-shirt as I was told by the four agents, I asked the Jet Blue woman to buy me a t-shirt and I said "I don't want to miss my flight."
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.
The woman went away for 3 minutes, and she came back with a gray t-shirt reading "new york". I put the t-shirt on and removed the price tag. I told the four people who were involved in the conversation: "I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this. I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don't want an officer to make me change my t-shirt. I will pursue this incident today through a Constitutional rights organization, and I am sure we will meet soon". Everyone said okay and left, and I went back to my seat.
At 8:50 I was called again by a fourth young man, standing with the same jetblue woman. He asked for my boarding pass, so I gave it to him, and stood in front of the boarding counter. I asked the woman: "is everything okay?", she responded: "Yes, sure. We just have to change your seat". I said: "but I want this seat, that's why I chose it online 4 weeks ago", the fourth man said " there is a lady with a toddler sitting there. We need the seat."
Then they re-issued me a small boarding pass for seat 24a, instead of seat 3a. They said that I can go to the airplane now. I was the first person who entered the airplane, and I was really annoyed about being assigned this seat in the back of the airplane too. It smelled like the bathrooms, which is why I had originally chosen a seat which would be far from that area.
It sucks to be an Arab/Muslim living in the US these days. When you go to the middle east, you are a US tax-payer destroying people's houses with your money, and when you come back to the US, you are a suspected terrorist and plane hijacker.
I've heard even worse than this story when a half Arab/American young lady was under investigation for hours, half naked, without allowing her to put on any cloths, for no reason.
This is the heaven of democracy and justice on Earth!
{ 15 } Comments
A few months ago I went to the car wash with my nine year old daughter and there was a snarly looking man with a t-shirt on saying "I got my Koran courtesy of the toilets at Gitmo, Rush Limbaugh"
When I first saw it I was shocked a bit and then my anger began to mount. There were alot of people waiting to have their cars finished so I chose my words and approached him. I said, "Excuse me sir, but your t-shirt very much offends me" He looked at me and barked, "Yeah, well you offend me" I returned, "Sir, once again I say, your t-shirt is offensive to me and is probably offensive to others as well" He said out loud, "Hey, is anyone else here offended by this t-shirt I'm wearing?" The people surrounding us either ignored him or as one said, "Hey, it's America, you have the right to say anything you want". I then said to them both, "Perhaps you have the right to say what you want but that does not mean it is not offensive or that I don't have the right to express myself to you. I have many Moslem friends and my daughter is half Arab, if your t-shirt said something on it about Afro-Americans or Hispanics or anyone else you'd have your ass kicked. But in fact you could not even buy a shirt like that could you?" He then looked at me and said, "Why don't you take your half A-RAB daughter and all your friends and go f–k yourself" At that point I knew it was a loosing battle to try to have a reasonable conversation with this man or anyone else surrounding us since no one said a word to him about the way he spoke to me. I looked at him and just said, "Sir I decline to respond to your bigotry but I suggest you go to Beverly Hills or West Hollywood (where there is a large Iranian population) and see what happens to you if you wear that shirt there." He just looked at me again and said, "Go f–k yourself, I ain't going nowhere but people like you don't belong in my country" I chose to walk away but said, "Sir this is MANY people's country, not just for bigots like you" I doubt VERY much his t-shirt would have prevented him from boarding a plane.
Now mind you, I was with my nine year old. She looked at me and said, "Why did that man talk to you like that Mom, Sissy (her sister) would have been really upset about his shirt"I really didn't know what to say except to say there are so many people here in the States that don't like Arabs. She asked why, would that man not like her sister just because of that? I was cornered, I simply replied Yes honey, unfortunately it's true. She just looked at me and said, that's just not right Mom. I said, no it is not.
No it is not. I will NOT remain silent
Thanks for sharing this story, Robin. It really sucks to see a person like this man says what they don't practice.
It sad to see double faced system and people who claims that they practice their right of freedom of speech even if it is offensive to others and racist, all under the protection of a constitution, while others are denied the same rights if they want to demonstrate even in a peaceful methods, just because they are Arab and/or Muslims!
Hat tip for your courage to say the truth :)
August 15, House Representative Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, Republican stated this " King told CongressDaily he is open to hearing arguments from the administration for new legal authority, and also suggested that airport officials "should consider Middle Eastern ethnic background as a reason for further questioning."
Given limited resources, King explained, treating everybody the same in the screening process might not make the best sense. But King said he believes the Bush administration has sufficient power through the president's constitutional authorities and the USA PATRIOT Act." http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34789&dcn=todaysnews
Know Your Rights Statement On Possible FBI Interviews
Washington, DC | July 18, 2006 | In the past few days, media reports have discussed a possible plan by the FBI to monitor and interview Arab Americans in an effort to identify potential threats to national security http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2856
August 5–Earlier today, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) wrote to the Memphis City Council regarding its treatment of an Iraqi delegation of civic leaders visiting Memphis, Tennessee, on a US State Department sponsored tour. The Iraqi delegation was brought to the US by the State Department to learn more about civil rights in the US but on August 3, the delegation was denied entry into Memphis City Hall. http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2295
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Iraqi Delegation Visits City Hall Last Week
Kathleen Herd Masser
Mirror contributing writer
On Thursday, Santa Monica hosted a delegation of civic leaders from Iraq who are touring the country, hoping to glean some insight into how communities here deal with divergent populations and opposing perspectives. The tour, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, includes stops in Washington, DC, Memphis, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
No one doubts that integrating Iraq’s diverse religious and racial groups into a cohesive government will be a challenge. But a pair of encounters in Tennessee left local bureaucrats red-faced and showed that the U.S. may have some unity issues of its own.
The five men and two women were to meet with officials at Memphis City Hall. But city council chairman Joe Brown denied them entry, claiming their presence was a security risk. The following day, a delegate and her translator were robbed at gunpoint just blocks from city hall http://www.smmirror.com/volume6/issue9/iraqi_delegation_visits.asp
Here is a really good article, "Travelling While Muslim, 32 tips"
I have to laugh at this one, 12. Don’t allow your t-shirt to speak for you
Slogans and phrases about Islam on the t-shirts of some young Muslims have been used to harass them while traveling. So unless being stopped and questioned is your idea of fun, avoid wearing such t- shirts while traveling." Here is the rest of the article
http://soundvision.com/info/terrorism/traveltips.asp
U.S. Constitution: First Amendment
First Amendment – Religion and Expression
Amendment Text | Annotations
CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
RELIGION, OR PROHITING THE FREE SPEECH THEROF OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR OF THE PRESS, OR OF THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACABLY TO ASSEMBLE AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES
Does this not apply to Muslims and Arabs? Should they be denied free speech? NONONONONONONO!!!!!
But here's the best/most ironic advise of all 26. AVOID BEING TOO COURTEOUS
Being too courteous while being Muslim may actually get you kicked off a flight. That is exactly what happened to some young Muslims who were traveling from Chicago to New York to catch a flight for their trip to Makkah. During a stopover in Philadelphia, a group of women boarded and wanted to sit together. These nice Muslim kids offered to switch their seats with them, but when they got up to do this, the pilot who profiled them because of their religion (they had white, brown and black skin colors) kicked them off the plane. Other passengers tried to explain to the pilot that they were trying to be courteous. Apparently, the pilot was afraid of what these Muslims were planning to do. The nice young people had to drive to New York to catch their flight to Makkah.
So save your courtesy for the right time and right location
You're damned NO MATTER what you do!!! This is BULLSHIT!!!
Can you please tell me where I can get this t-shirt.
On second thought, I'd like to make my own which says in English, We will not be silent and in Arabic F–K ALL AMERICAN BIGOTS!! :)
(sorry, this is really a sore spot for me)
You are free to do as you are told.
If it doesn't fit into Bush's fearmongering you are not free!
If you are a Muslim you are most likely not free!
If the bigots in the US don't like it, you are not free!
If it is not christian, you are not free!
I was born a Jew, now an atheist, I dislike extreemists (all religions), I am not free!
I now have no reason to visit the US because you have become just as bad as Iran, and soon to meet North Korea's standards!
LOOK IN THE MIRROR before you judge!
I'm speechless.. What could you say about such thing? I just wish that someday we Arab will be ab;e to defend ourselves and force people to respect us..
It's really sad that America cannot seem to uphold its own principals when pushed to the test. But, it's not just an Arab or Muslim thing. This thing has happened repeatedly thoughout U.S. history (think Native Americans, African American slaves, women not allowed to vote, Chinese railroad workers, Japanese internment camps, etc.) and is likely to happen many times again with different groups of people being the target. Apparently some people can't learn their lesson. Sadly, there will always be huge numbers of racist, unintelligent bigots out there to piss us all off and cause our country big problems.
Do a google search of the word terrorism and add the name of any country you want. You will find out just how expansive extreme Islam is reaching. 99.9% of terrorism (and I'm referring to people who wear ski masks and/or blow themselves up) in the world is committed by Muslims. The fact that people are lumping all Muslims in the same category is wrong. On the other hand, you won't find any other culture in the world willing travel anywhere in the world to kill themselves and their own kind in order to get to men, women and children who follow a different religion. It's no wonder non Muslims are scared. Scared people do dumb things and that's just what the terrorists want. Airplanes are not appropriate political forums. The fact is that safety overrides free speech at 35,000'. If a fight or argument breaks out, the pilots can't just pull over to the side of the road and toss the offenders. Porn is legal in the US. Should I watch a porn movie on my laptop because of freedom of speech and it is legal? Others, especially with children will probably be offended. Once again, the inside of an airplane crossing the Atlantic is not the place to test freedom of speech. Safety is the priority. It may not be fair to the individual, but in the end, arriving alive is what matters.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight!
Diego,
It is sad to see you are mixing things together. Maybe reading more will help you, and digging more to see who the real terrorists are.
Ignorance is not an excuse, and suicide bombers are there all around the world.
Anyway, here are two posts that might help you learn more. Please also read all the comments that follow these links:
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2005/07/13/arab-and-muslims-are-not-terrorists/
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2006/06/28/what-can-they-do-kill-us/
As a white, 15th generation American I apologize for Diego.
Perhaps it is ignorance, perhaps religion, but probably it is garden variety raceism slathered in the irrational fear the Republicans, and the US TV networks are so busy selling to the ignorant this week.
I found this site while googling for a site that I can get a translation of the US first amendment done in Arabic. I intend to make my own t-shirts.
The freedom of speech Deigo is so eager to give away in return for the illusion of safety, is still dear to me and I will not bore this forum with the litany of ancestors who have died to protect the rights violated in the original story.
However, as a white middle aged male, (also 6'4" and 280 lbs) I realize I can wear this shirt in protest with far greater saftey than many of those who might read this.
I will not willingly leave this country to those who cannot understand the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Googling anything means not much. You can corrupt the google search engine by making many searches and only linking those sites that agree with your views. Once you and your friends have done it enough, these sites will be on the top of the list.
The sites at the top of the lists are only the ones visited the most, not the ones that are mostly true.
Think about it Diego!
I can understand what your saying, yet in the times that are at hand, why not just understand that things are way out of control
and help keep others at ease. If you don't like it, please
feel free to stay home to exercise your right or move back
to the motherland where you 100 percent can be silenced.
"force people to respect us"
Yikes.
"I now have no reason to visit the US because you have become just as bad as Iran"
As bad as Iran? Really? Ok. I reluctantly understand you. I've listened and learned.
Does "I will not be silent" literally mean that you intend to speak the whole flight? I've sat next to people on planes that won't be silent, and it isn't very fun.
A REFUSAL TO HOLD ONE'S TONGUE
I am content
If I must die,
For time well spent
Is not to lie.
So many would
Prefer to live
Deceitful–should
I too deceive?
No, I will say
With careless mouth
North lies which way
And which way south:
Most preciously
Concerning war,
This one I see
Wrong at the core.
Nor strangers, friends,
Nor foes among
My heart pretends
Nor held my tongue.
Why ought a man
Admit the false?
How fly soul an
Uncouth that crawls?
Before my God
Or Godless so
My path be trod:
He and I know.
The Nye
Our body, it is the Nye,
awaiting for its friend
the soft sad tune
into its interior blown,
and like a river of love and rain,
caress the harshness
of our pain.
To your love O Lord
There is no end
And this disguise
Is a blessing in which you send
For us, an invitation to be saved.
And these open arms could not
Plead Thee more
When our great sadness
Knocks at the door
waiting for us to die,
like the dying tune.
And true,
These days are sad
But our patience in you is glad
Awaiting peacefully
And with all good faith
Your Glorious Justice
And your vengeance
Above the tyranny
And evil
Of some of the human race
[BM. 22/1/09. London]
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why, o why.
[...] ica Means You Are a Suspected Terrorist [...]
[...] , and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt?. [Emphasis mine]
Continued [...]
[...] o put on any cloths, for no reason. This is the heaven of democracy and justice on Earth! (Cross pos [...]