The Packages from Yemen

I'm sure everyone's heard of the Yemen packages that were headed for a Jewish organization HQed in Chicago. I know I have--a retired Jewish school principal told me. But, are any of us really surprised? This shit was bound to happen. Airports: insanely "secure." Shipports are havens for customs officers. So, where else do they go...on cargo planes. So, why is this a nuisance for us, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs? Well, isn't it obvious?

Racial profiling. Defined in the yet-to-pass End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA, 2007), it is "[any] practice of a law enforcement agent or agency relying, to any degree, on race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion." Isn't it ridiculous that this thing is still going on? For crying out loud, the most conservative president, who vetoed stem-cell research and abortion legislation, even favored this bill. That's right, George Bush, in a memorandum to the Attorney General, said, "I hereby direct you to review the use by Federal law enforcement authorities of race as a factor in conducting stops, searches, and other investigative procedures." Barack Obama, what are you doing?


Alright, so lets get to it. The main argument for Racial Profiling is this..."Better to search the wrong guy than to not search the right one." Bullshit! These searches are random - and what does random mean?- not all the packages/bags/people/turbans get checked. So you could search a group of 50 travelers, searching every other 3 and miss the "right guy" who, knowing the "stratification order," inserts himself into the invisible 35. Not really that hard.


And here's yet another thing. Would racial profiling really serve its purpose? I mean, how many of the 9/11 attackers wore a salwar kameez and a long beard? That's right, none of them. And quick fact, how many real terrorists have actually been stopped so far with such a dumbass practice still in use? None. I think Muslim comedian, Azeem Muhammad, says it the best: "If I were going to blow-up an airplane, this would NOT be my disguise."


And so we come back to the Packages from Yemen. It proves that such bullshit practices like Racial Profiling have no place in our society. Bad people will just find another way to go about it. (Remember "My Name is Khan"--there are only good and bad people?) Racial profiling will only take away the rights of the good, hardworking people of the United States. Last time I checked, being Brown is not a crime.