When the nation’s airplanes got back in the air about a week after the September 11th attacks, there were many unfortunate stories about people who were, or looked like they were, Arabic being subjected to undue scrutiny. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings it appears to have happened again:
Reports from Boston say the plane was about to head to Chicago but returned to the gate before takeoff after passengers cited concern about two men on the flight who were speaking Arabic.
Several of the people on that flight were marathoners. The two men were removed from the plane.
Fox in Boston reports the men were not sitting together and both were detained at Logan airport after they were taken off the flight.
Jonathan Turley sums it up well:
Several passengers were marathoners. The two men were removed from the plane and detained . . . for speaking one of the most common languages on Earth.
Putting aside the prejudice in the treatment of Arabic speakers, it is illogical to think that terrorists would speak in Arabic if they were truly going to harm passengers. True terrorists try to blend in with population.
The airline bears responsibility for this conduct. There should be more than simply speaking Arabic to have a plane returned to the gate and passengers detained.
Just for the record, estimates indicate that there are 422 million Arabic speakers in this world
That’s a lot of people to keep off of airplanes.
