Rationalizing Racism: Panic and Profiling After 9/11

Random security checks. That's what they're called anyway: those extra bag searches and body scans being done at airports across the U.S., presumably to deter a new round of terrorist attacks. On each flight, a handful of passengers are pulled aside and given additional scrutiny, despite having gone through souped-up metal detectors and having their luggage scanned and examined far more intently than prior to 9/11.

Having traveled on 40 flights since that fateful day, I've had the chance to observe how these "random" checks are being done. And I can say without fear of contradiction that the only time randomness comes into play is on those flights where there are no persons of Arab or Middle Eastern descent present. Otherwise, the random selection begins to bear a striking resemblance to blatant racial and ethnic profiling. The wrong last name or skin shade, or even better, a hijab, turban or other religiously-identifiable head covering, are just a few of the factors that the "random" computer selections seem to miraculously pick out every time.

Even Latinos, whose ethnicity isn't readily apparent to the ticket takers, are facing additional scrutiny. I recently observed a nervous gate crew eyeing four young men on a flight from Nashville: this despite the fact that even under the overbroad anti-Arab profiling that has become so common, they hardly "fit the description."

Their names, (which I learned by peeking at their boarding passes), were Martinez, Melendez, and Rodriguez. They all spoke Spanish, their final destination was Guadalajara, and one was flying with his girlfriend and their newborn baby. But their appearance got every one of them pulled out of line.

I've even had the occasion to watch two white women singled out by ticket agents who saw their last names -- Rashidi and Habib -- and assumed the worst. Although they continued the searches even after realizing their mistake, one could hardly miss the embarrassment on their faces. Inconveniencing white folks after all, is never one's desire.

In addition to profiling in airports, one might also consider the rounding up of over a thousand immigrants from the Middle East, almost none of whom have ties to al-Qaeda or any terrorist group, but whom the Administration wants detained anyway. Likewise, the 5000 or so whom Attorney General Ashcroft wants interviewed by local police, despite no reasonably inferred connection between them and terrorist organizations. Again, nationality and ethnicity suffice in the eyes of officialdom, to justify suspicion and differential treatment.

To many, complaints about such measures may seem trivial. 'What's the big deal?' ask some. Isn't security worth the mild inconvenience to those singled out?

But as with all other racial profiling, the present incarnation is every bit as unjust and irrational. Despite calls from many quarters for more profiling, under the rubric of good "common sense," the fact remains that it is not sensible at all.

To single out persons of a particular nationality or ethnicity, or to heighten one's suspicion of such a group is blatantly unjust. It is in fact plainly racist, as such generalized suspicion, fear, and mistreatment never seem to attach to white folks, no matter what profile we may fit.

After the Oklahoma City bombing, white men were not singled out, held incommunicado, rounded up for questioning, nor quizzed when trying to rent moving vans. Indeed, I rented a Ryder truck shortly after McVeigh blew one of their fleet sky-high, along with the Murrah Building. And despite being a white guy, with short hair, no one said a word to me, nor asked for a deposit up front, just in case I decided to load it up with fertilizer and ammonium nitrate and take out a city block.

Although white supremacist and militia groups most certainly came in for additional scrutiny in the aftermath of McVeigh's act of mass murder, notice the difference between that response and what is happening now: in the former instance, only very specific kinds of white people became possible suspects. In the latter case, there is a general response of fear towards all persons fitting the physical, ethnic, and religious description of the terrorists.