What happened on Northwest Airlines flight 327? The question has been on the lips of the press, public and punditry ever since the story was published on the website WomensWallStreet.com.

The author of the article, Annie Jacobsen, was traveling with her family from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29, 2004. She and other passengers grew frightened when 14 Middle Eastern men behaved in what they felt was a "suspicious" manner during the flight. One gave her a "cold defiant look" and others went to the bathroom in succession. The crew shared Ms. Jacobsen's alarm and dialed the airline equivalent of 911. When the plane landed in Los Angeles the FBI and other law enforcement personnel were on hand.

A subsequent search of the plane turned up nothing suspicious and it was later confirmed that the group of men were musicians on their way to a performance near Los Angeles. By now, however, the tale has been spread all across the Internet and on radio and television talk shows. It has become commonly accepted that the musicians were practicing for a terrorist attack or might have planted explosives on the aircraft.

September 11 made it easy to justify racial profiling and this story has bolstered the argument. Anyone who questions the practice is dismissed as "politically correct," naïve, or forgetful of the terror attack that took nearly 3,000 lives.

If it is acceptable to be queasy on a plane if a group of Arabs go to the bathroom on a three-hour flight it should also be acceptable to assume the worst about other groups. If Arabs can be automatically suspected of terrorism just because they are Arabs, then white people should be suspected of chicanery, thievery, and corruption, just because they are white. Paranoia is often justified, and we should not exclude any group from our own personal security alerts.

Richard Grasso was CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, which unbeknownst to all but a few, is a non-profit organization. Mr. Grasso was forced out of his job but not before he convinced a passive board of powerful New York movers and shakers to give him an exit bonus totaling $139 million.

When the startling sum was made public, Board Chairman H. Carl McCall, former Comptroller of New York – and the only African American ever elected to statewide office – was forced to resign due to the board's dereliction of duty. Not only has Mr. Grasso refused to return any of the money wrongly given to him but he has sued his successor, John Reed, for defamation because Reed had the gall to criticize the pay package.

The list of corruption, conflicts of interest and outright theft among the white, high and mighty is a long one indeed. Who bankrupted Enron? If one listens to those on the daily "perp walk" the culprit is a mystery. Ken Lay, a fund-raiser for George W. Bush, pleads ignorance. His cohorts who cashed in their chips before the bottom fell out on Enron employees and their 401(k)s are likewise clueless, even as they cut deals with prosecutors to get the shortest prison sentences possible.

Who worsened prescription drug coverage for retirees? It wasn't Arabs, terrorist or otherwise. It was white American politicians, lobbyists, pharmaceutical companies and a corrupted AARP. The recently passed Medicare prescription drug package will not provide adequate coverage for needy seniors, but it also imperils coverage that millions of middle-class Americans already have.

If Arabs should be suspect while in flight, then white people should not be allowed near anyone's money. Taxpayers, shareholders, and workers have all been taken by the group that is most trusted but is the least worthy of anyone's trust. The United States is occupying Iraq, incurring the wrath of the Iraqi people and millions more around the world. The total of American soldiers killed in action now stands at 900. The Iraqi death toll is 11,000. Anyone who wanted payback for September 11 should be happy. The Iraqis have paid a very high price for the American desire for revenge.

Of course, powerful white people in executive suites brought this tragedy to fruition. They wanted to make lots and lots of money. So began a litany of no bid contracts, deals to transport oil to an oil-rich nation, jobs for non-Iraqis (while Iraqis look for work) and immunity from prosecution for any corporate wrongdoing.

To those who argue that we can't take a chance with suspicious Arabs I say that we should be consistent. If we can profile in the airport we should profile in banks, board rooms and in the halls of Congress. White people should be banned from involvement in any transactions involving large sums of money. If every Arab can be a presumed Mohammed Atta, then every white man should be a presumed Richard Grasso or Ken Lay. Let's have racial profiling everywhere in America. We will all feel a lot safer.

American politicians, of all races, do not know how to address the concerns and needs of black voters without making a mad dash to the church pulpit. The tradition of candidates for county sheriff or President of the United States visiting black churches has become a parody, an insult to the intelligence of black voters, and an activity of questionable political value.

In 2003 the right wing succeeded in recalling the elected Democratic governor of California, Gray Davis. Their goal was to push the state with the most electoral votes toward George W. Bush. (After all, it will be hard to cheat in Florida twice.) The recall was another skirmish in the war to bring America under one party rule for Republicans. It was a textbook case of brilliant political strategy. The effort succeeded because it was not met with an equally audacious democratic response. Gov. Schwarzenegger is in office in part because of the Democrats' ineffectual outreach to black voters.

The plan to reach black voters consisted of the same stale strategy. As usual, no black Christian in the state of California was safe from the clutches of Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson or Al Gore. On the Sunday before Election Day all three ran from church to church, appearing with preachers and singers in choir robes, exhorting the faithful to vote against the recall. Schwarzenegger won of course, and proved that last-minute church hopping is not the grand political strategy it is made out to be.

The political appeal of the black church is obvious. An appearance before a large congregation is one-stop shopping for likely voters. A connection with the pivotal role played by black religious leaders is an undeniable benefit for candidates. Black leadership is still skewed toward the clergy. The only black men to run for president, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, are both reverends.

But the history of the black church should not be an excuse for laziness and lack of imagination in making political appeals to the black community. While the presidential candidates campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire they held pancake breakfasts, firehouse chili feeds, school auditorium rallies and luncheons in living rooms. The candidates ought to know that black voters also have living rooms and their neighborhood schools would be excellent sites for political events. Our activities do not begin and end at the church door and those who do not attend church are equally entitled to know what politicians are proposing for their communities and for the nation.

During the 2000 presidential elections the NAACP created the slogan "Get all souls to the polls." The words were harmless enough, but a poor substitute for speaking to the needs of black voters, who always provide Democrats with the necessary margin for electoral victory. It is imperative for everyone to go to the polls, and special appeals to a variety of constituencies are an American tradition. But those appeals should be made all year long and should not exclude astute and concerned citizens who don't have a church home.

In November 2000, I personally witnessed the emptiness of church-centered thinking in a political campaign. On the Sunday before Election Day, opera singer Jessye Norman arrived in my Harlem church near the end of the service. Sister Norman was in the sanctuary to encourage voter participation. I am sure her intentions were righteous, but an opera singer performing "Oh, Freedom" was somewhat bizarre and unintentionally amusing. I give Ms. Norman credit for her desire to strengthen democracy, but her time would have been better spent elsewhere. The members of my congregation are frequent voters who do not need exhortations from opera singers to vote, particularly in a presidential election year.

One New Hampshire pastor made a very vocal point of chiding those who use his church and others as backdrops. Rev. Arthur Hilson is the pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In December of 2003 the reverend had one political visit too many when he castigated politicians who "pimp the black church."

"When you come, come honestly ... come speak to us as you speak to America," he said. "Don't feel that you have to have a special message for us because what is good for America is good for us (African-Americans)."

Rev. Hilson's point is well taken. Black voters should not be treated as after thoughts when the polls show a tight race. If we were approached by the Democrats in a meaningful way there wouldn't be panicked visits to black churches two days before ballots are cast. After the failures of November 2000 and November 2002 the Democratic Party ought to have learned the value of addressing black American concerns. Instead there is still a fear that connecting with blacks will alienate whites. Terry McAuliffe and other leaders must remember that no one wants to be called for a Saturday date on a Friday night. It is disrespectful and always produces an excuse to stay home.

Margaret Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City.

The retailing giant Wal-Mart must be nirvana for black people. Its commercials, full of sentimental background music, soft focus photography, and earnest looking real people give the impression that it is just short of heaven on earth. I have seen commercials showing a black mother exhorting her daughter to pursue a career at Wal-Mart. In another we are told that the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles was saved by Wal-Mart. By occupying an empty space Wal-Mart brought jobs, hope, love, respect, and good karma to this community. A discount store had accomplished what urban planners, academics, and politicians could not.

Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer and with 1.2 million workers the largest employer as well. It prevents union organizing on its sites, and before being sued forced employees to work overtime but did not pay them for doing so. The American desire for a good bargain has created a retailing behemoth with low prices and low wages to match. Wal-Mart had already cut a swath across mostly rural America by putting smaller retailers out of business. But the giant that began as a five and dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas is now conquering new territory.

Apparently some among black leadership believe that businesses, no matter how exploitative, are always good for their needy communities. John Mack, President of the Los Angeles Urban League, said, "We need to have retail outlets that are convenient and offer quality goods and services at low prices. I really think that there are potential economic benefits for this community with the addition of a Wal-Mart."

It may be a difficult choice for distressed communities to reject potential employers, but the growth of Wal-Mart in California jeopardizes the jobs of 250,000 unionized grocery store workers who currently make $10 per hour more than their Wal-Mart counterparts. The need to compete with Wal-Mart has sparked a strike in Southern California that began in October. Grocery stores want to reduce union worker benefits out of fear that they will be unable to compete with Wal-Mart's low wages. Are black communities so needy that they have to take jobs that won't pay a living wage? Others are less enamored of Wal-Mart's false image of love and happiness. The City of Oakland has passed legislation to prohibit so-called "big box" stores in an attempt to curb the threats that Wal-Martization presents to its residents.

The issue of Wal-Mart's supposed benefits to distressed neighborhoods raises the recurrent theme of economic activity, or lack of same, in black communities. Communities with greater resources reject Wal-Mart and its ilk out of hand because of concerns about sprawl and destruction of neighboring businesses. It may be easier to say that Wal-Mart is better than nothing, but a corporation that has cheated employees out of wages and fires them because they are in interracial relationships makes the case that half a loaf is worse than none.

It is understandable that John Mack and others are looking to increase employment, but what happens when the employer pays such low wages that its employees are eligible for public assistance? Some Wal-Mart employees in California were given information on how to apply for food stamps and other welfare benefits. Do black neighborhoods really need more public assistance? I was under the impression that employment was supposed to end the need for public assistance, not provide for it.

Unfortunately, even some of Wal-Mart's detractors miss the significance of its growth and paint it as some sort of aberration in the history of American capitalism. In fact Wal-Mart has perfected this system and the result is the logical conclusion of capitalism unrestrained. One can argue that it all works out. The Wal-Martization of America provides us with the lower cost goods we will all need when our wages are lowered by the Wal-Marts of the world.

Black leadership should not give into the argument that our communities are in such need that Wal-Mart and its acts of harassment can be considered an asset. Wal-Mart employees are punished for involvement in union activity and are encouraged to spy on one another. Is it asking too much for these leaders to think of other ways to bring new employment opportunities or respond to redlining and other factors that keep businesses out of our neighborhoods? Apparently it is, and not just in Crenshaw.

In my community, Harlem, the so-called capital of black America, we hear much about redevelopment. Bill Clinton opening an office was supposed to bring a 180-degree change in the fortunes of our neighborhood. There are now large retailers such as Old Navy, Marshall's, and H&M on 125th Street. I don't argue against their presence, but we still lack the business development that is so much more evident in other Manhattan neighborhoods. Outside of the showcase that 125th Street has become there are still too many empty store fronts and those that exist are the usual fast food outlets, hair dressers, small churches, and check cashing places.

When we do have vital businesses they often disappear. My favorite restaurant, Wilson's, which had a bakery, waiter service and good, inexpensive food was open one week and closed the next without any explanation or warning. I went for an after-church brunch to find a tiny note on the door that read "closed." A Dominican restaurant now occupies the space, which is not surprising given the demographic changes to that part of Harlem. But the fate of Wilson's and other Black owned businesses remains a mystery to once loyal customers and residents who desperately want to see a strong economic base in their neighborhoods.

My Walton relatives hail from the same region of Arkansas as the late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. My family would joke that perhaps we were related and were due some of the wealthy Walton cash. No one was able to substantiate any connection and our wishful thinking remained just that. Now I wish that the black communities were not so downtrodden that an Old Navy opening was big news or that a bad employer might be welcomed with open arms.

Margaret Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City.