Musings Of A Suspected Terrorist

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

As a brown American citizen and former immigrant, let me weigh in here. First of all, I`m totally sympathetic with the author. This kind of treatment is insulting, and the kind of stuff that induces hatred in those less restrained. On the issue of immigration in America, I think it is safe to say that xenophobia still lives here, as it does all over the world. Remember what made this country great was not indiscriminate immigration, but white European immigration. At least that`s how some white folks see it (I`m not racist, and neither are most white people!). Numerous examples of the success of non-white immigrants in America, from African to Carribean to Cuban to the recent success of Asians in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are of course utterly irrelevant to the xenophobic mind. If you look different, you must be dangerous. And I speak from personal experience here, both as an immigrant, as well as an ordinary brown person in America. I`m reminded of the frightened MIT student who broke into a full sprint at the sight of me. Does wonders for your self esteem; as my dear friend Charles used to say with relish: at least I know I can scare the shit out of white folks if I wanted to. That`s being black in America for you. And to quote the always insightful Ice-T: ``Mexican is black, Puerto Rican is black, Indian is black, etc.`` You get the picture.

As to the merrits of racial profiling, in a word, it`s a bunch of bull. There are many many characteristics of a traveler that one can look at to determine risk, and their skin pigmentation or even their nation of citizenship is utterly irrelevant. I`d love to see the numbers on terrorists who were caught as a direct result of racial profiling. If the INS wanted to do their jobs properly, they`d talk to the Israelis. I`ve heard first-person accounts of American jews being thoroughly grilled by Israeli immigration. They don`t fool around, and they don`t care where you are from. The truth is that the INS is completely incapable of keeping track of who comes in and out of this country, and so they resort to the kind of tactics described in this article. When in doubt, cast the dragnet. It so happened that I had to travel internationally shortly after 9/11. When I came back, the immigration hall was full of obviously Arab people, entire families, waiting and waiting and waiting. I felt their pain, but I was glad to breeze through with my American passport. We don`t live in utopia yet, and foreigners are still too often treated with disdain and mistrust. So if you want to make America your home, I strongly recommend going all the way and becoming a citizen. Generally speaking you are treated much better, and at least under the law, you are no different from the blue eyes :-)

Arjun_M, HamidM at al:

Behavioral profiling has elements of Racial characteristics. I do not advocate the usage of Race alone as a basis for profiling, but to completely eliminate race as a factor is completely irrational as well.
No law enforcement agency has advocated the basis of race alone as a deciding factor, but to ignore race ie. put blond swedes and swarthy arabs at same risk perception level is simply put ridiculous.

Good to see practically every hindu on this board has replied to my statement. Puts things in a clearer light as to where your group stands.
Indignity heaped on muslims is always treasured by adversaries regardless of how much they try to justify it.

As for the special registration, it is religious profiling at its best. Do you imagine a terrorist would be fool enough to stand in line to get fingerprinted?

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

RSAXENA:

The point is African American community in general went from supporting a ban on racial profiling to advocating the usage of racial profiling once the target changed. That is hypocricy.

Adnan:

``Just a few years ago, I used to oppose TNT vehemently. But, after taking into account what`s been going on in India and talking to several ``Secular`` Hindus and family members who still reside in Indian (mainly Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Fatehpur), I am beginning to feel what Jinnah must have felt when he broke away from Congress and joined the Muslim League. ``

I`m glad you`ve realized that TNT was such a great thing. Now, do you want to explain the benefits of TNT to family members who reside in the various places in India? Is Pakistan going to accept the leftovers of TNT?
If Jinnah is right, what are you balming the Hindus for? You should be celebrating the Hindu fulfillment of Jinnah`s TNT. (Sarcasm intended)

As far as the INS is concerned, I didn`t know about the facts you mentioned. I was under the impression that people who were illegal were the ones who were hauled up, and I still don`t see anything wrong with that. Every lawbreaker is someone`s brother/father etc. However, if, like you said, people were in the middle of green card processing, them detaining them is plain wrong. In fact, then, the INS action itself is illegal because as long as your application has been accepted and is pending you are considered to be in legal stays. The attorneys of the detained should then file suit against the INS in court.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

arjun: A survey of 500 people out of 1.2 billion Muslims belonging to many races, countries and cultures? Not to mention the fact that only 11% out of the woefully small number (500) of people interviewed said such things. This makes it about 55 people. Come on, give me a break! Besides, the focus of this article is Muslims in U.S., most of whom have repeatedly said it on national TV, newspapers and talk shows that they do not support terrorism. But, I can always find 500 people who would say otherwise. And, of course, being the hate mongerer that you are, you would always concentrate on the small picture and want all the Muslims to suffer because of them.

I agree that I should not have used the term ``racial bias``. Please substitute this with ``religious bias``. Happy now?

arjun_m,
I have been reading you for a year now and find that you speak the truth and honestly point out the ailments of the muslim ummah. What is your
suggestion for the remedy, if there is any.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

#79 knsridhar:
Really? Please provide examples of how ``MOST`` Muslims break the rules in this country. There are 6 - 8 million Muslims in the U.S. I challenge you to prove that even 1% of this population engages in violence against America. Those of you who say that Indians only have a problem with Pakistan or TNT, please read this fellow`s remarks and see the truth for yourself.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Ralph #72:
[ ... At the same time, any country wishing to survive must keep out those who believe that they can live in peace with others only if their religion gets special privileges. Keeping such people out and deporting them to wherever they came from is every country`s duty toward its other citizens. ...]

Hmmm...let`s see. So going by this rationale, we should throw out the Jews for asking for Kosher labels on meats. We should throw out all the Christians for using the local town homes for Christmas celebrations. We should throw out any religious person who supports the idea of school vouchers. This is absurd. I think the only people who deserve to be thrown out are those who callously throw around the idea of throwing people around like broken furniture because their views don`t coincide with theirs. And, by the way, what are the ``special privileges`` that American Muslims are asking for which are unconstituional? Can you name one?

Having said that, I believe that Muslims in the U.S. must not only learn to respect but wholeheartedly embrace the idea of the separation of church and state. We need to understand and respect the U.S. Constitution. If there`s something you don`t like about it, you could either leave or try to amend it by using the tools provided by the Consitution itself. There`s nothing wrong in lobbying to change the U.S. foreign policy vis-a-vis the Middle East as long as it remains within the confines of the constitutional framework. Muslims should also realize that they have to respect the pluralistic nature of this society and coexist peacefully with other religions. If you look around with untainted glasses, you will see that 99% of American Muslims do just that. Of course, the first generation whines about the social structure of this country (many Imams and Mullahs of mosques do unjustified U.S. bashing), but they`re not any different from first generation Irish, Germans or Italians. Assimilation is not an instant process. The seconed generation of Muslims, I am proud to say, consists of highly educated professionals. Our kids are lawyers, doctors, scientists and MBAs working for Fortune 500 companies. Their brilliance and dedication can only bring more prosperity to the U.S. Many of them are good Muslims and do not see a clash or chasm between their beliefs and the mainstream society.
But, what surprises me the most is to hear people trying to tell Muslims to not raise their voices against racially biased schemes, such as the Special Registration witch hunt, because it is better than what they left back home. I agree that even in its worse form, U.S. will be ten times better than the undemocratic, brutal regimes of Pakistan and Arab countries. But, this is not a good enough reason to take sh?t from anyone. We did not come here to be treated like this all over again. We cannot be held liable for the actions of Osama bin Laden. On the contrary, we came to this country to raise our kids away from religious nuts like him. What seems like a slap on the wrist today could easily turn into full-fledged pummeling in the future. The time to stop racial profiling aimed at Muslims is now. After all, raising your voice against discrimination is to follow a well-established American tradition and a cornerstone of its consitution - liberty for ALL. Don`t let people tell you that its okay to be treated like this because 1% of your population believes in violence in the name of Islam. Racial profiling never was and never will be justified. People who tell you otherwise have their own vendettas which are driven by centuries old vengeance. Their primary motivation is settling scores not reformation.

re: arjun

{You are wrong about this. African Americans support profiling of muslims post-9/11. Let me see if i can find the report. }

...i`m sure they do...but as a % of all blacks, is the support amongst them higher than that amongst whites?..

although the muslims follow the rules of the land most of them given a chance brake all rules and create violence in the land that give them food and security the violence the indulge in the name of peace and properity is nothing but insecurity to the people this is happening in all most all the part of world where ever they are present in numbers and are never a patriot