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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
RACIAL PROFILING TO FIGHT TERRORISM?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:16 PM)
acial profiling has come to represent the most fearsome form of institutionalized racism. For minority Americans what could be scarier than the prospect of being subject to systematic discrimination by powerful law enforcement agencies capable of invading every sphere of one's life? For Asian Americans the dangers of racial profiling are amply illustrated by the World War II internment of Japanese Americans and the more recent Wen Ho Lee case.
The September 11 terrorist attack suggests a scenario in which racial profiling might not only be acceptable but necessary. Fact is, every terrorist linked to the plot was an Arab male. One wonders if the horrible tragedy that took thousands of innocent lives and plunged our economy into crisis could have been averted had our intelligence, law enforcement and security agencies been given a freer hand to subject airline passengers to intensive searches and background checks on the basis of nationality or ethnicity.
Rational Americans may question whether it is even possible to conduct a workable campaign against terrorist attacks on American soil without intensive resort to racial profiling in airports, at border crossings and hotels. After all, terrorists are fighting a holy war premised strictly on religion and nationality. Despite the obvious dangers of racial profiling, it seems reckless to suggest that the United States can fight terrorists in a race-neutral fashion. Why subject every American to the same levels of delay and discomfort when only a small percentage fit the profile of potential terrorists? On the other hand, are we ready to undermine the constitutional and moral high ground on which our society is built?
The newly declared war against terrorism may well be the ultimate test of our sincerity in rejecting racial profiling. Is it time to rethink our position?
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Racial profiling, basically a no-win situation either way. If you don't resort to racial profiling, you make the job so much easier for Arab terrorist operatives to do murder. If you do resort to it, you will be humiliating a lot of innocent people, not to mention inciting negative perception, even hostility, towards these people as a group. Government, and especially media, has a great influence on how the average Joe and Jane see the different people around them. Other forum discussions here (although on different issues), has made that point of media influence on perception abundantly clear. The racial profiling in this case involves Arabs, because at this point in time we are concerned about terrorism. However, with tensions building up between U.S. and China, I hate to think what this will mean to Asian-Americans in the near-future as well, should a conflict of any scale occur between these countries, and not to even mention North Korea? And you don't even have to be Chinese or Korean-American, you could be, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese etc. origin, you still got the same kind of "face", to the average Joe and Jane, who always need someone to blame when they can't find an outlet for their collective frustration. Would there be a racial profiling zeroed in on the Asian face as well? What will that do to our lifestlyes? Will the perception of us as a whole be set back another decade or two? Like I said, a no-win situation. Such a wonderful world we live in eh?
Am an AM
Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 15:09:40 (PDT)
[65.234.17.110]
I think that racial profiling would help protect people in airports tremendously, and if people feel safer, maybe more people would fly now. I would rather have some innocent Arabs checked out and not find anything then ignore them because some people don't think it's "morally correct"...
Student
Tuesday, April 08, 2003 at 14:10:58 (PDT)
[24.61.121.102]
P.S.- Michael Moore's site has some interesting facts, go check it out.
P.S.S.-Americans decide to boycott French products, guess what?, the U.S., is clearly scrutinized by the whole world (except for England of course), people around the world seem to be boycotting American products.
It's one against all, and all against one! How sad....
Go Figure!
UpYoursBush@yahoo.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 18:43:40 (PST)
[68.4.253.208]
if this war was truly based on our fight against terrorism, then why isn't bush doing what is intended?
This whole war is downright bull. Many can object to my opinion, but I clearly do not support this war.
Yes, one thing good that's coming out of this war is the elimination of Husane our of Irag's political power and national burden, however, this war does not serve to benefit humanity.
If this war was truly based on terrorism, then why aren't we out to look for Osama Bin Laden, he should be our primary target.
If Bush is saying that Iraq could easily sell Nuclear bombs to terrorist support groups, then why isn't he pointing at other countries that do too?
One of our other major threats is North Korea, which it clearly has nuclear weapons and is just as capable of selling it to terrorists as well.
Not to mention other countries like India and Pakistan.
If this war truly was against terrorism and the threat of nuclear war weapons, then why is it only focused on just Iraq (Which so happens to contain the world's 2nd largest oil supply, Kuwait being the 1st)?
If we are truly fighting against weapons of mass destruction, then we should focus on all countries that are capable of selling them.
So, why aren't we focusing on North Korea as well?
It's pretty obvious, North Korea does not have anything to offer the U.S.
North Korea is poor, they don't have the natural resources that make it possible to exploit.
Clearly, this war is for the best interest in monetary gains, not on terrorism.
Racial profiling is just another scare tactic that the government uses to try and initiate patriotism, fear, hate, and exclusion of those who resist.
The long-term of this war will effect our individual freedoms. So, for those who think that this war stands for justification, it's recommended that you think beyond the scope of your own perception. Open your mind, this war is far more complex than what you think.
Long-term results will effect everyone globally. Lifestyles will change. Government intrusion of personal privacy will increase, individuals will slowly begin to lose their personal freedoms.
Humans will slowly become dehumanized. We will never enjoy the safety that we once had. Perhaps, one day we will all have to constantly wear gas masks, sort of like the Jetsons.
What kind of life will that be?
WAR is NEVER the ANSWER
ntt821@hotmail.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 18:38:51 (PST)
[68.4.253.208]
If a 25-year-old man is discovered to have stolen a red convertible, would you pull over a 90-year-old woman in a Buick?? No, and if Arab hijackers are arrested then you go after Arabs, not people who should have no suspicion cast upon them. The safety of our nation should not be forfitted for someones personal rights and space.
TDM
Monday, March 10, 2003 at 05:05:16 (PST)
[166.102.99.165]
Actually, I go with Asian student. Although, racial profiling is the "most fearsome form of institutionalized racism," it is necessary to make it possible to find out who is and isn't a terrorists.
Filipino Guy
xlilbnoyjx@sbcglobal.net
Sunday, March 09, 2003 at 09:06:57 (PST)
[67.121.189.206]
Asian student,
Enough is enough! John Ashcroft and his boss George W. Bush have ample laws and support to do whatever it is they need to do to prevent domestic terrorism.
They're trying to turn this country into a damn de facto prison camp. Those bastards are not going to get the Patriot Act II passed.
These nuts are making this country a great place for all white people, but people of color get the shaft.
No racial profiling. Enough is enough!
Geoff DB
GeoffDB02@aol.com
Saturday, February 22, 2003 at 17:59:00 (PST)
[172.172.67.134]
I think that racial profiling is sometimes neccessary, especially when it comes to protecting our country. Racial profiling isn't always bad if it is used the right way. Maybe you guys just need to explore some other points of view and not be so close-minded. I have explored both possible points of view and honestly, I think that the good things about racial profiling seriously outweigh the bad. Please take my advice and read more on the subject.
Asian student
Thursday, February 20, 2003 at 08:42:27 (PST)
[24.123.90.75]
Tony Blair is facing accusations that Downing Street had plagiarised its latest dossier of evidence against Saddam Hussein from out-of-date material.
No 10 insisted the dossier released on Monday was "accurate" and had never claimed exclusive authorship.
But the Tories said this explanation "utterly failed" to deny or excuse the allegations that the 19-page intelligence document was substantially plagiarised.
The dossier was designed to help win over sceptics by outlining Iraq's alleged efforts to hide its weapons of mass destruction.
But experts dismissed the dossier as largely copied from three different articles,
Channel 4 News reported.
One article which the programme claimed was a major source for the Downing Street document was written by a postgraduate student, Ibrahim al-Marashi, from Monterey, California.
He was researching material relating to the build-up to the 1991 Gulf War and not to the current situation, it was alleged.
Channel 4 News reported that Glen Rangwala, an academic atCambridge
University, spotted that large chunks of the student's paper had been copied to form parts of the No 10 dossier, called, Iraq - Its Infrastructure of Concealment Deception and Intimidation.
Dr Rangwala, a lecturer in politics, told the programme:
"The British Government's dossier is 19 pages long and most of pages 6 to 16 are copied directly from that document word for word, even the grammatical errors and typographical mistakes."
Guardian.co(UK)
UK War Dossier A Sham:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreign....00.html
Make you go Hmmmmmm?? about Powell ...etc:
Funny how we just getting this news now in the NY Times (2/9/03,
Pg.A9). You got to see it.
Britain Admits That Much of Its Report on Iraq ......Came From Magazines
By Sarah Lyall
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/international/europe/08BRIT.html?ex=1045371600&en=3f9a5267645c1253&ei=5038&partner=ASAHI
Make you go Hmmmm?
Saturday, February 08, 2003 at 20:58:18 (PST)
[209.240.198.61]
I am writing in response to what "Bella" said. Yes we are the land of the free and we made it that way for everyone of any race and look what happen. We can still be the land of the free but when it comes to our safety i really dont care how Middle Eastern individuals feel. I realize not all of them feel how the terrorist did but if they want to be here then they need to realize we don't feel safe and understand that.
Pro-Profiling in Airports
Tuesday, February 04, 2003 at 10:13:18 (PST)
[205.188.208.69]
While traveling in Malaysia and Thailand, it is amusing to see Westerners flicked through airports with a cursory check while Indonesians and - especially - beardie head-banging-on-the-carpet Middle Easterners are treated to the whole nine yards.
Perhaps Mineta ought to come out here and see how it ought to be done!
DR. Bill Corr
sonoekurimoto@yahoo.com
Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 05:09:01 (PST)
[210.195.240.13]
"When are the rest of you going to wise up?"
When your fellow westerners stop driving SUVs and stop feeding the beast. Westerners themselves are to blame for creating the monster..Saddam was aided and abeted by the US for most of the 1980s. Our other "friends" who gave us a lot of grief recently were funded by the US until the late 1980s to help the Soviets. Reagan even invited them to the White House as friends of freedom. Now they are feeding the monsters in Pakistan. Perhaps it is time for westerners to wake up, stop driving gas guzzlers and improve public transport particularly in the United States. From what you write it seems to me that white people can do no wrong. Of all the arrongance!
Anti-Profiler
Monday, January 06, 2003 at 09:48:08 (PST)
[138.220.70.76]
It seems like some contributors are quite unable to keep their heads clear and stay on the issue.
The issue is your safety, not the harrassment or the embarrassment of Sikhs or anyone else.
I'm no longer in Saudi Arabia, the country which contributed 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists. [Remember?]
Instead, I'm writing from Malaysia, the prosperous and stable country which gave us one of the Bali bombing conspirators, a man - a Muslim, of course - with a Ph.D. from Reading University in the U.K. In today's papers, there's a report that the Malaysian government is unambiguously telling Muslim preachers to shut the f*ck up about politics in their Friday sermons. These sermons are anti-U.S. in nature, of course.
Surf the 'net and read what the U.S. State Department and the British Foreign Office have to say about Malaysia right now.
A VIGNETTE:
I was in Riyadh when Westerners were being murdered by carbombs, something the Western media largely ignored in favor of Winona's tribulations; the Saudi Ministry of the Interior blandy assured us that the the dead, blinded and maimed were simply casualties in bootleggers' turf wars, a disgusting and barefaced lie.
Those of us closer to the front line can see the issue clearly enough; one religion and its adherents are the enemies of civilization. Got it?
When are the rest of you going to wise up?
Dr. Bill Corr
sonoekurimoto@yahoo.com
Saturday, December 28, 2002 at 01:35:44 (PST)
[219.93.238.34]
"T.K.Chang tells us that "many" Sikhs were "hunted down and murdered" in pogroms in the U.S.A. after 9/11. Where? How many? This sounds like an urban myth rather than hard fact."
Five. Several more were harassed or injured.
"Were the Sikhs thus hunted down and slain more, or less, numerous than those murdered in Delhi after Indira Gandhi was assassinated?"
Not the same number of Sikhs in the US. But, proportionately, the numbers are probably close.
"At present, I live in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, where many people detest America with a visceral hatred and were undisguisedly jubilant about 9/11 and the role young Saudis had played in harming the U.S.A."
US has not succeded in projecting a good image abroad. With friends such as Trent Lott giving the world an education in "American Democratic Values" US does not need any enemies.
"Exhibiting superior knowledge is a cheap and unworthy trick in an exchange of views, but living where I do I confidently assume that T.K. Chang lives in the U.S.A. and that, innocently rather than ignorantly, he simply has no at all idea how many people would be delighted to inflict harm on him, his family, his community, his fellow-citizens and his nation."
This may be the other aspect of racial profiling. If they target a random sight, someone such as TK Chang is screwed, as were so many innocents at WTC, most of whom were non-whites and non-Americans (although judging from the media coverage most would think that only whites and Americans died). However, if individuals are targeted as "American" T.K. Chang may not be affected as he would not be considered "American" by most Americans, let alone a foreigner. I am a US citizen of Indian origin...most people think I am a foreigner.
Indo-American
Sunday, December 22, 2002 at 12:45:41 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
T.K.Chang tells us that "many" Sikhs were "hunted down and murdered" in pogroms in the U.S.A. after 9/11. Where? How many? This sounds like an urban myth rather than hard fact.
Were the Sikhs thus hunted down and slain more, or less, numerous than those murdered in Delhi after Indira Gandhi was assassinated?
I am an EU citizen and not an American, not that being or not being an American has any bearing on this discussion.
At present, I live in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, where many people detest America with a visceral hatred and were undisguisedly jubilant about 9/11 and the role young Saudis had played in harming the U.S.A.
Exhibiting superior knowledge is a cheap and unworthy trick in an exchange of views, but living where I do I confidently assume that T.K. Chang lives in the U.S.A. and that, innocently rather than ignorantly, he simply has no at all idea how many people would be delighted to inflict harm on him, his family, his community, his fellow-citizens and his nation.
William Corr
sonoekurimoto@yahoo.com
Monday, December 16, 2002 at 23:33:38 (PST)
[212.138.47.11]
i believe racial profiling can be helpful, or harmful. when using it in a police case, or law enforcment it may help target a specific race. yet when thinking about how you would want to be treated i think you would change your mind. i don't know about you, but if i were pulled over in the airport and had my bags searched, or forced to take my shoes off and have them inspected i would be fully humilliated!
think about moral issues here. aren't we the land of the free? the place for oportunities? how free can you feel when your fellow citizens are scared of you because of your ethnicity,or race. these people are discriminated against every day of their lives! things need to change, and people should get some common sense.
bella
Monday, November 25, 2002 at 15:21:16 (PST)
[68.40.176.188]
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