In the name of our freedoms
A friend of mine was travelling to the States from the UK on the day the plot to blow up transatlantic flights was uncovered. They were obviously quite worried about the situation but decided to risk it and go ahead anyway. They expected delays and a bit of a wait at the airport, but little did they expect a 24 hour gap between getting to heathrow and their hotel room in the States.
Checking in at Heathrow had taken less time than expected, and the UK had been generally ok. When they got into the plane the story changed. The US chaps apparently wanted a list of all the names and further details of passengers on board before the flight took off. This took all of 3 hours, and passengers were grounded all that while.
On reaching Miami airport they were made to stand against a wall and let sniffer dogs sniff them. Following which all black, brown and Middle Eastern ppl were told to stand aside while police officers checked their passports. Then at immigration there was a separate line for brown, middle eastern and black ppl, the same for customs. After customs the usual suspects were again asked to stand aside and were taken to a room and had to wait for 3 further hours. They were interviewed and set free to get their bags. After collecting their luggage the browns, blacks and middle easterns were again sent in a separate line where their luggage was searched and screened. Apparently all the white ppl walk past the queues of non-whites, staring like goldfish. They spent a total of 9 hours at the airport in Miami, and they got off early.
This is touchy stuff, I know that bc of the present situation caution is needed and what not, but this really is the giddy limit. Segregation according to colour and race is not excusable. If there were separate queues for Tamils and non-Tamils at Katunayake the human rights chaps would be up in arms, and quite right too. But when it’s done in the states, it’s all in the name of “protecting our freedoms”. To assume that one is a terrorist based on colour, race etc. is simply wrong, it undermines human dignity in the greatest possible sense. When the IRA was at its height there would never have been separate queues for white ppl at Heathrow and anywhere else, it would simply not have been viable. They can do it to us and get away with it bc we take it lying down. Like the whole fingerprinting business, it’s ridiculous. A fundamental principle of justice is that one is innocent until proven guilty, and sure in these trying times these principles need to be tweaked, but there’s a way of going about it, a more subtle and considerate way. The US immigration officials in Miami are clearly neither of these. It’s completely unnecessary to have separate queues at customs, police AND luggage checks, that’s just saying it’s ok to trouble the coloured ppl but we don’t want to bother the white man. If security is such a concern they should have had one stringent check on everybody, instead of having 3-4 stringent checks on the coloureds and allowing the white ppl a fast track.
But really it’s no use complaining. I thought to myself the best bet is to just avoid going to countries where we’re treated like second, no, third rate citizens unless it’s absolutely necessary.
