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MsFrisby
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 3966
Location: a quiet little corner of crazy
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 Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:13 pm Post subject: "We'll buy you a different t-shirt." |
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| Quote: | I went to JFK in the morning to catch my Jet Blue plane to California. I reached Terminal 6 at around 7:15 am, issued a boarding pass, and checked all my bags in, and then walked to the security checkpoint. For the first time in my life, I was taken to a secondary search . My shoes were searched, and I was asked for my boarding pass and ID. After passing the security, I walked to check where gate 16 was, then I went to get something to eat. I got some cheese and grapes with some orange juice and I went back to Gate 16 and sat down in the boarding area enjoying my breakfast and some sunshine.
At around 8:30, two men approached me while I was checking my phone. One of them asked me if I had a minute and he showed me his badge, I said: "sure". We walked some few steps and stood in front of the boarding counter where I found out that they were accompanied by another person, a woman from Jet Blue.
One of the two men who approached me first, Inspector Harris, asked for my id card and boarding pass. I gave him my boarding pass and driver's license. He said "people are feeling offended because of your t-shirt". I looked at my t-shirt: I was wearing my shirt which states in both Arabic and English "we will not be silent". You can take a look at it in this picture taken during our Jordan meetings with Iraqi MPs. I said "I am very sorry if I offended anyone, I didnt know that this t-shirt will be offensive". He asked me if I had any other T-shirts to put on, and I told him that I had checked in all of my bags and I asked him "why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights". So I answered him "I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt".
Then I once again asked the three of them : "How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn't this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?" so inspector Harris answered "you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank". I said "but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says "we will not be silent". I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan, you can google them or email them at wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc." Inspector Harris said: "We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don't have a translator. Maybe it means something else". I said: "But as you can see, the statement is in both Arabic and English". He said "maybe it is not the same message". So based on the fact that Jet Blue doesn't have a translator, anything in Arabic is suspicious because maybe it'll mean something bad!
Meanwhile, a third man walked in our direction. He stood with us without introducing himself, and he looked at inspector Harris's notes and asks him: "is that his information?", inspector Harris answered "yes". The third man, Mr. Harmon, asks inspector Harris : "can I copy this information?", and inspector Harris says "yes, sure".
inspector Harris said: "You don't have to take of your t-shirt, just put it on inside-out". I refused to put on my shirt inside-out. So the woman interfered and said "let's reach a compromise. I will buy you a new t-shirt and you can put it on on top of this one". I said "I want to keep this t-shirt on". Both inspector Harris and Mr. Harmon said "No, we can't let you get on that airplane with your t-shirt". I said "I am ready to put on another t-shirt if you tell me what is the law that requires such a thing. I want to talk to your supervisor". Inspector Harris said "You don't have to talk to anyone. Many people called and complained about your t-shirt. Jetblue customers were calling before you reached the checkpoint, and costumers called when you were waiting here in the boarding area".
it was then that I realized that my t-shirt was the reason why I had been taken to the secondary checking.
I asked the four people again to let me talk to any supervisor, and they refused.
The Jet Blue woman was asking me again to end this problem by just putting on a new t-shirt, and I felt threatened by Mr. Harmon's remarks as in "Let's end this the nice way". Taking in consideration what happens to other Arabs and Muslims in US airports, and realizing that I will miss my flight unless I covered the Arabic script on my t-shirt as I was told by the four agents, I asked the Jet Blue woman to buy me a t-shirt and I said "I don't want to miss my flight."
She asked, what kind of t-shirts do you like. Should I get you an "I heart new york t-shirt?". So Mr. Harmon said "No, we shouldn't ask him to go from one extreme to another". I asked mr. harmon why does he assume I hate new york if I had some Arabic script on my t-shirt, but he didn't answer.
The woman went away for 3 minutes, and she came back with a gray t-shirt reading "new york". I put the t-shirt on and removed the price tag. I told the four people who were involved in the conversation: "I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this. I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don't want an officer to make me change my t-shirt. I will pursue this incident today through a Constitutional rights organization, and I am sure we will meet soon". Everyone said okay and left, and I went back to my seat.
At 8:50 I was called again by a fourth young man, standing with the same jetblue woman. He asked for my boarding pass, so I gave it to him, and stood in front of the boarding counter. I asked the woman: "is everything okay?", she responded: "Yes, sure. We just have to change your seat". I said: "but I want this seat, that's why I chose it online 4 weeks ago", the fourth man said " there is a lady with a toddler sitting there. We need the seat."
Then they re-issued me a small boarding pass for seat 24a, instead of seat 3a. They said that I can go to the airplane now. I was the first person who entered the airplane, and I was really annoyed about being assigned this seat in the back of the airplane too. It smelled like the bathrooms, which is why I had originally chosen a seat which would be far from that area.
It sucks to be an Arab/Muslim living in the US these days. When you go to the middle east, you are a US tax-payer destroying people's houses with your money, and when you come back to the US, you are a suspected terrorist and plane hijacker.
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http://www.parkerstudio.com/AAW/JFK_story.html
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OriginalCrazyone
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 112
Location: Smokey Mountains, North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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this is fucking rediculous.... I say anyone who feels this man was done wrong needs to get a shirt that says Fuck Censorship in arabic script and wear it proudly to their nearest airport.... just because someone is of middle east descent does not make them a terrorist... and half of the "terrorist" organizations our government is going after, when you look at them on their own rights, it sounds like they are just militias trying to overthrow a government that mistreats them in their homeland... wasn't the United states founded by a group of people that by todays standards would be considered terrorissts, men like George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, who sought freedom from the tyrrany of the soverign leadership of england? I may not be the most well spoken person here, and I am sure this could be said far better, but just because a few people commit a heinous act does not mean the entire race of people deserve to lose their rights and freedoms. that path has been traveled down before... it ended with the Holocaust.
-OcO-
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Major Tom
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 7562
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| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| except the heinous acts that led to the holocaust weren't committed by the jews |
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Dogen
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 9308
Location: Bellingham, WA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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What makes this great is they didn't stop him from getting on the plane - so they had no reason to believe he was a terrorist - they just didn't want anything with Arabic script. Because it might be code... to other terrorists... on the plane... to be talkative.
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"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman |
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LittlestMorte
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | "why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights". |
What. The. Fuck. |
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Lasairfiona
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 9615
Location: I have to be somewhere? ::runs around frantically::
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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I am losing more faith in this country and humanity every day. ::fumes::
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Before God created Las he pondered on all the aspects a woman might have, he considered which ones would look good super-inflated and which ones to leave alone.
After much deliberation he gave her a giant comfort zone. - Michael |
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mantismag
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 81
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| i find it sad that a nation whose founding principles are supposedly those of freedom and individual rights allows the stupid to impose their will on others. i hope he sues the fuck out of them for violating his constitutional rights. |
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Flion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 589
Location: Don't look up! (Damn pigeons...)
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Major Tom wrote: | | except the heinous acts that led to the holocaust weren't committed by the jews |
Except for the murder of Jesus. Oh, wait, that makes me sound too Christian. Forget I said anything.
Seriously, (the preceding was a joke, in case you took it seriously) I find that our so-called rights are about the same as so-called Christian charity. On the whole, we are better off than many other countries, but we have no guarantees at all. This, on the other hand, sounds like a case of idiocy all around. I've seen people wearing pornographic shirts with less hassle than this. Very sad.
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| Halen wrote: | | The reason that "people actually see the points people make" = "people agree with me" is because I. Am. Right! |
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Major Tom
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 7562
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Flion wrote: | | Major Tom wrote: | | except the heinous acts that led to the holocaust weren't committed by the jews |
Except for the murder of Jesus. Oh, wait, that makes me sound too Christian. Forget I said anything. |
besides, it wasn't the jews, it was the italians |
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Flion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 589
Location: Don't look up! (Damn pigeons...)
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, sure, blame the mob for everything. [Sinatra voice] You are dead, dead, dead! [/voice]
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| Halen wrote: | | The reason that "people actually see the points people make" = "people agree with me" is because I. Am. Right! |
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Major Tom
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 7562
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| Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:24 am Post subject: |
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| hey, the mob didn't have to pick barabbas |
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bun bun
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 2:55 am Post subject: |
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my jaw. hit the floor.
who says this isn't a totalitarian country? |
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Drui
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 541
Location: 'Jersey :}
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| Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 3:01 am Post subject: |
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| President Bush wrote: | | Sure a dictatorship would be easier. |
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The Victim Here
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 2816
Location: Almost Not Trinity.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:03 am Post subject: |
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Ahahahahah.
America sucks.
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Uncle Taylorbell
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 3191
Location: Northern England
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| Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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We recently had the entirely hilarious case of white British tourists refusing to get on a plane in Malaga, Spain, because two Asian men were speaking 'in a foreign language' in an 'intimidating manner' and 'laughing'.
In spain.
On holiday.
Seriously, there are too many fucking stupid white people. |
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