Browsing Tag: Profiling

Most of us hate the indignities of air travel but for some Americans, Sikhs especially, airport security is humiliating. One Sikh says that it’s not making America safer.

Amardeep Singh is a typical American guy --... Yet almost every time he travels, he said, he is pulled over by TSA agents for a secondary screening.

A Professor of Visual Culture Explains Unconscious Stereotyping Evolved From Boston Bombings, Trayvon Martin Shooting

Scholars have recently described this perceived relationship as a racialization of religious identity. This process has led to a conflation of Sikhs and Muslims, and therefore, has produced a corollary to Islamophobia -- Sikhophobia.

The mobile app is called FlyRights. Travelers who suspect they have been profiled take out their smartphone, tap a finger on the app and answer about a dozen questions. Then they hit "submit" and an official complaint is filed immediately with the Transportation Security Administration.

In the wake of reports of surveillance of Muslim communities by the New York City Police Department, it is important to recognize South Asians endure heightened scrutiny without any evidence of wrongdoing.

What became known simply as 9/11 triggered a reconfiguration in public life, dramatically altering the way Americans travel, fight wars and define ‘security’ and ‘terrorism.’ To understand the massive changes that has unfolded in the name of national security, it is important to recall the national climate of a decade ago.

Last week, Representatives of the UNITED SIKHS, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), and Sikh Coalition met with the head of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Administrator John Pistole to discuss racial & religious profiling of Sikhs at American Airports.

Apart from undermining civil rights, these practices divert scarce resources away from legitimate law enforcement activity, which instead should be aimed at investigating actual criminal activity. In other words, wearing a turban, keeping a beard, or having dark skin should not in of itself invite extra scrutiny from law enforcement officials.

Arizona’s discriminatory position on immigration may spread to other states. In fact, at least ten other states are considering laws similar to Arizona’s, including Maryland.