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.
i don’t think they ‘assume that one is a terrorist based on colour, race etc’ or convict any body of anything.
they are doing what anyone who has to deal with large groups of ppl ( say a person handling an ad campaign ) does . efficiently separating ppl with limited data available. whether we like it or not chances of detecting a terrorist goes up more they check ‘black, brown and middle eastern ppl’ and not whites. same goes for more checking on tamils here.
that does not mean those who does the checking think that are all terrorists. ( of course few idiots probably do, but they are few).
however they should make sure that ppl being checked know that and that they are courteously and politely treated.
as long as one accepts that any checking is ok, separation of ppl according to race to do it efficiently is also ok.
Comment by sittingnut — August 13, 2006 @ 8:27 am
sittingnut - first of all hello, long time no see. point taken, they don’t assume brown ppl are terrorists, and they’re doing what they perceive to be the most efficient thing. That said, the methods used in Miami compromise human dignity too much to be justified, it is a thin line but I think they crossed it there. Subjective thing though.
Comment by ddm — August 13, 2006 @ 3:15 pm
I’ve got loads of friends in the States, and sometimes it even works out that flying across the pond is cheaper via the States than going directly from Toronto. Despite all of that and a myriad of other reasons that’d draw me to pop in and visit, I won’t unless i absolutely have to. And it’s a matter of principle, not blatant anti-Americanism.
Comment by rastiadu karaya — August 13, 2006 @ 8:33 pm
i guess that’s how they miss all the white radical muslim converts !!
i hear the Home Office in the UK will soon be interviewing and fingerprinting every new passport applicant as well as everybody trying to renew their passport !! needless to say the cost of a passport has also gone up to £45 or something in that region..i wonder what kind of screening questions they will use at interview
Comment by savi3 — August 17, 2006 @ 12:28 pm