Poll: Racial Profiling At Airports

[beefjerky911]

I heard on the news that they buffed up security at the airports and they could do random searches if they believe it is necessary. This could lead to racial profiling. They could be alot harder on certain ethinicity. Do you think this is very bad or necessary for the safety of passengers.

I meant to say certain ethinicity will be harassed more than others

 

[kassy]

I would like to know how these people got through the INS to begin with.
To enter the US is a nightmare, as a New Zealander using Advanced Parole to enter the US I have to go several stages.
The intial INS check, then ushered off to secondary immigration, then questioned, papers checked, double checked and basically interrogated.
My country is not a 'high risk' country, so how did they manage it

 

[csiro]

Racial profiling is a small price to pay for times like this..

 

[thereds]

<< Racial profiling is a small price to pay for times like this.. >>



It's easy to say if you're white.

But then again its important that this be done to ensure safety.

 

[beefjerky911]

not to sound so racist. but if i was to board a plane at this time and i saw that there were a couple of people from a certain ethinicity, i'm going to be scared sh*tless. wouldn't you?

 

[lo5750ul]

I thought the security in airports already employed profiling. They certainly already do in the U.K.

 

[PlatinumGold]

It shouldnt be random searches. everyone should be searched.

it should be everyone, but we know it won't be.

do i have a problem w/ random searches? hmmm. that's tough as i'm not white. will i get searched more than my white counterparts?

for now, i'm gonna go w/ racial profiling is part of the price we pay for the actions of a few.

 

[beefjerky911]

<< I thought the security in airports already employed profiling. They certainly already do in the U.K. >>



from my experience, no one was ever hassled with the exception of the metal detector.

 

[DannyLove]

<< Racial profiling is a small price to pay for times like this.. >>

i agree. and btw, i am not white.

danny~!

 

[boolerboy]

racial profiling is wrong. don't forget WWII and what happened to japanese americans. the smithsonian in washington dc has some very thought provoking posters from that time. i don't think i'll ever forget the one that explains how to "tell a chinaman from a jap". do we really need that again in this country?

many indian people look arabic. can anyone tell the difference? what about middle-eastern jews? did you know that there are many mexican people that can pass of as indians? there have been reports of attacks on sikhs following tuesday's events. their crime? their religion requires them to wear turbans and everyone has seen bin laden on tv with a turban. sikhs are not arabs. they are indian.

one other thing. in 1995, two white guys blew up a building in oklahoma city. shouldn't all white people that try to board airplanes or that try to enter government buildings be subjected to racial profiling and searched?

 

[johneetrash]

either all get searched or none searched at all.

but racial profiling will probably still go on

 

[veryape]

At this time and at any time a crime can be solved by RP then I totally think it is a necessary evil.

 

[veryape]

On the issue of wearing turbans and carrying knives as part of your religion;get over it. We are at war and cannot deal with your whining asses. In America at no point is carrying a knife ever accepted as part of freedom to express religion. Its a crime. And turbans are what the enemy is wearing right now so take them off for the time being so we can get our work of catching these assholes done.

I think i'll start a poll on that subject.

 

[joohang]

I have no problems with that.

If facial structure and skin colour is one method to efficiently classify and identify criminals, I'm all for it.

 

[boolerboy]

veryape,
only the sikh community in the USA wears turbans. arabs here don't. i don't think arabs anywhere do. bin laden seems to have adopted the afghan headdress. it is just very ignorant to go after a person (who could be american) because they have a turban on and because the tv shows bin laden has a turban on. by your logic, every white person's car and home should be searched. who knows, they might be planning to blow up a government building, or shoot their families, or kill their co-workers.

india is our friend in this crisis. israel and india are the only two countries that have so far been subjected to terrorism in the name of islam. no sense in harassing indians, is there?

 

[CanOWorms]

Racial profiling is wrong. I think everyone & all luggage especially carry-on luggage should be searched.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Kassy

Initial information on the Boston terrorists are that they came accross the border from Canada by car.

Normally all the US border guards ask is for citizenship, purpose of visit in the US and length of time.
IF the answers or attitude of the person arrouse suspicion, then futher checks may be issued. If everything seems OK, the person is free to continue.

 

[Sigurd]

"Those willing to give up liberty for security deserve neither." -Benjamin Franklin (apologies if I've messed up the quote)

I'm Indian, although I was born in the US. I consider myself as American as they come; I speak English without the SLIGHTEST accent, and the only other language I know is French. I dress like a normal college kid...cargo pants, t-shirt, etc. But--I don't trust the airport personnel to tell one "sand n*****" from another. No, I don't wear a turban or anything of the like, but to the uneducated, there's no difference between an indian or an arab. We're all "brownies" to them.

I had a flight back to LAX on Tuesday the 11th, at 4 PM. Obviously, it was cancelled, and I'm now stranded in Orlando waiting for the first available flight back to LA. I'm very much worried that I'll be forced to open my bags and suitcases for a search when trying to board a plane sometime in the near future (tomorrow perhaps). I have nothing but CDs, clothing, shoes, and a few computer parts in there, but it's such a pain to open a fully packed suitcase or bag. The bags are packed tight; I don't want them f*cking it all up.

My point: racial profiling is NOT excusable simply because of paranoia. It's faulty logic; just because most terrorists are arabs doesn't mean most arab-looking people are terrorists.

 

[kassy]

EagleKeeper - yes I understand that, prior to my greencard application this was the case, but a certain amount of racial profiling has always gone on when it comes to entering the US. Mexicans, Russians and some Mid East countries have always had to provide more information to prove their purpose for visiting the US, there are many countries on a high risk list that arent able to use the Visa Waiver program and therefore have to obtain proper visas to enter the US.
Even before my greencard application I had problems, simply due to the amount of times I had visited the US.
I have no problem with the tightening of security, its necessary, it just surprized me that they managed to get through so easily.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Kassy

Also, given the training and orginzation behind this situation, forged documents could have easily been used for the border crossing.

The Canadian border is not kept as tight as the Mexican border or entry points at air or sea ports.

Agreed, this is due to some profiling and also the trust in Canada both economically and politically.

 

[kt]

Search me all you want, but don't be assuming I am guilty and give me attitudes beforehand. That's all I ask..

 

[PlatinumGold]

sigurd

It's faulty logic; just because most terrorists are arabs doesn't mean most arab-looking people are terrorists.

it's faulty logic but it also doesn't apply. most terrorists are arabs. hence search arabs as being the most efficient way of weeding out the terrorists.

many say search all or search none, that's faulty logic. if you already know that most terrorists are arabs, why search mexicans? why search chinese?

are you suggesting we search NO ONE?

 

[db]

Profiling (not "racial" profiling) at airports has been going on since after the first hijacking way back in the '70s (or was it '60s?).
It's nothing new. It involves many things which together would flag someone as possibly suspect. 99.9% of the time nothing comes of it and nobody even notices, as evidenced by the fact that none of you are aware of it. Every time you get on an airplane, you have gone through a profile.

 

[damocles]

Racial profiling should not be used at all. It does no good to single out people simply because of how they look. They should beef up the security checks on all people going through all customs zones.

 

[BiggieC]

The majority of plane hijackings for the past thirty years, as well as airport terrorism has been done by people of Arab descent. It is important to use statistics and play the percentages in cases where it is impossible to thoroughly search everyone. It would be assinine to NOT use some sort of racial profiling when the cost of terrosim can be so high, and statistically it is so clear what kinds of people are more likely to do this. Some of you may say this is easy for me to say because i am white, but the real reason it is easy for me to say is because I would never even consider doing such a horrible act.