Via BoingBoing comes news of a guy who was detained and missed his flight for “acting suspiciously” by speaking a mixture Tamil and English on his cell at Seattle’s cosmopolitan SeaTac airport:He told officials that he would not speak in a foreign language on his cell phone at an airport in the future
A 32-year-old man speaking Tamil and some English about a sporting rivalry was questioned at Sea-Tac Airport and missed his flight Saturday because at least one person thought he was suspicious.
The Port of Seattle dispatched its police officers to investigate the case, which occurred Saturday around noon, said Bob Parker, airport spokesman. The Chicago man was preparing to board an American Airlines flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
The man was speaking Tamil, a language largely used in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, on his cell phone at the departure gate and on the aircraft. An off-duty airline employee heard the conversation and informed the flight crew. [Link]
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p>The whole thing was cleared up once he promised to become monolingual at airports!
Parker said the man was cooperative and boarded a later flight to Texas. He told officials that he would not speak in a foreign language on his cell phone at an airport in the future. [Link]
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p>This is hardly the first time this something of this sort has happened. A man was detained for several hours for speaking Arabic on the phone at a bus station. Two britasians were kept off a flight for speaking Urdu (although there is some evidence that they may have been trying to provoke an incident). A flight was even diverted because passengers felt threatened by two orthodox jews praying in Hebrew! There are many more cases like this involving Sikhs immediately after 9/11, I’m just showcasing some non-Sikh examples so that the rest of you can relate.
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p>You don’t even have to open your mouth to have an incident. This Lt. Colonel in the US Army (formerly active service, now reserves) was detained for hours because US Air Marshals didn’t like the “way he looked” [He won a court case based on this incident]
So yeah, even 5 years after 9/11, I still only speak on my cell phone in English at airports, I always call or text somebody to tell them where I am in my journey, and I make extra sure to grin broadly and shuffle my feet while boarding. Nossah massah, I only speaks the english! You gots watermellon on this heah flight? I just love me some watahmellons!
word dawg.
anyone else out there a mysore magu/magalu born in the u-s-of-a??
surveys are so much more scientific than shout outz 🙂
while we’re on the subject of profiling.
on my way back from the bank – this person spotted me – i understood what he said in english – calls to brother, muhammad etc, maybe even something about the holy time etc – he was in need and he was very assertive in asking me for help – not in an aggressive way – but in the knowing way that i would help – told me about his psych problem – i saw a lot of anguish in his eyes – i was compelled to answer because i felt i’d break his faith in the muslim brotherhood or whatever secret handshake there is out there. what does it mean? i think it is a net positive – not necessarily in my favor – but in the faith that guy had. I kept it up and i responded in the way he saw me. do people respond to their expectations?
ok. so there it is. hmmm… let’s ruminate.
shout outz have more soul than surveys, and if there is no soul – there is no beauty – then there’s no point in living.
hairy, are you talking about giving money to a homeless dude? i’m confused.
when homeless people look in need and i give ’em some change and they say “god bless you” i’ll tell i don’t believe in god. not to disrespect them, but to show them that the godless have hearts too. if someone assumed i was muslim, and i gave them money, i’d tell i’m not muslim, so that they know that non-muslims are good people who are moved to compassion, even across religious or ethnic chasms.
surveys are so much more scientific than shout outz 🙂
wuzzup dawg! is much cooler than conf intervals and z-tests and $hit.
our perspectives differ. i could not get into a discussion with him on this because there is a god. it wasnt about my faith. it was about his faith which i wanted to see bolstered. without faith there is no hope for redemption. so the point of asserting my individuality was moot. and then who is to say our faith is different – words have no meaning.
Majority of the brown people I know have been on the receiving end of ‘racial profiling’. Surprisingly enough, most of them have had no problems with racial profiling as long as it is not misused.
I guess it has something to do with the fact that most of them are foreign-borns.
it was about his faith which i wanted to see bolstered
well, yes, perhaps you did bolster his faith, his faith in the fellowship of muslims. i think it would have been OK to bolster, or create, a faith in the fellows of humans.
and then who is to say our faith is different – words have no meaning.
perhaps he would have thought that too if you had disabused him of the notion that your generosity was precipitated by faith in islam, as opposed to faith in some broader religious sensibility.
i was mixing threads just because there was a logical linkage between #52, #53 in what the person saw versus what he could have processed if he was scientific. I was walking towards a cafe and logically he could have ruled me out as a believer – but he reached out – and it was with a mix of need and hope – just the confidence of his belief got to me.
enough about this. i’m subverting the thread.
my other point is that (and i speak as a person who studied math, stats at the doctorate level) a scientist can only go so far with facts and data. shoutoutz may work better than surveys because they come from the heart. but what do i know. 🙂 . enough subversion. siddharth is probably staring holes in the screen right now.
Just to nitpik 😉 some of us aren’t in need of redemption.
While we’re on the track of loud people, I have one major beef with my fellow airline passengers.
I have a problem with people passing gas, particularly in small CRJ/ERJ jets with leather seats at 30K feet in the air. Pass it loud, its ok, but pleaaassseee don’t rip SBDs. Think folks, you don’t have foam seats to absorb any bowel yawns. Leather seats will not buffer the sensory onslaught. Recycled air make’s it difficult to whisk airborne fecal matter away.
Beware of the geriatric atomic grannies. In between complaints of their daughter in laws, how lovely their grandkids are, and how confusing everything seems, the SBDs powered by healthy doeses of ensure will test the faith of even staunchest of believers, even athiests.
Incidents like this just makes me want to be more brazen about my brownness; I wear a headscarf and the next time I’m in an airport, I’ll probably just say “Salam” more loudly to my ammi when I call her from my cell. I mean, seriously, you can’t speak another language in an airport?
However, I must say that I have been very fortunate; I have traveled a lot since (and before) 9/11 (both domestically and internationally), and I have never had a problem–despite the fact that I make no bones about the fact that I am Muslim (and pretty obviously look it).
Then again, maybe it’s just a matter of time until I’m shipped off to Gitmo for saying Namaz in an airplane seat…
pardon me. i stretch words sometimes. i meant redemption in the sense that there is a better life, a better place, a better person within grasping distance. surely there must be days on a crisp fall day that you know everything and everyone is healthy, happy and beautiful around you. that is something to aspire for and i swear it is here and now for me :- )
“So yeah, even 5 years after 9/11, I still only speak on my cell phone in English at airports, I always call or text somebody to tell them where I am in my journey, and I make extra sure to grin broadly and shuffle my feet while boarding.”
Aren’t you giving in by modifying your behavior to fit people’s stereotypes? Why not continue to challenge the system until your rights are asserted? I.e., the victim at Seatac could’ve called a commuinty organization to do an information/cultural training for the employees. I take about 4 flights per month, and regularly talk in Punjabi on my cellphone, with my turban on. Luckily, I have yet to be searched or stopped in anyway, but I know that it can happen because of the increased discrimination post 9-11 adn the frequency with which I fly. At least you’re assured basic physical safety here. When I used to travel to Punjab in the 1990s, I was stopped several times leaving the airport and searched because of my identity as a Sikh, with guns pointing at me!
GujuDude – try SBD’s and a Tuna sandwich on a completely full plane – probably the worst flight I’ve been on.
Precisely, Singh! I refuse to give into this kind of pressure, though some would argue that you and I are just inviting trouble. Still, I do find that a warm smile can often go a long way in making others feel foolish when they’re staring at you suspiciously.
Thought test:
I am this ignoramus white American dude/dudess in an airport waiting to board a flight. In a post-911 world, I know that evil people (with brown skin, beards and funny accents) are trying to do bad things using planes (This impression comes straight from President, tv, newspapers, blogs everywhere). I see a brown person doing one or more of the following
a) Talking in a accent/language on the phone b) Confabulating with another similar person c) Tensed/Anxious/Nervous d) Random suspicious thing
And moreover assume that I had seen this alarming report on CNN/FOX/MSNBC showing such people doing or thinking of doing or threatening of doing bad things to Americans. I am not sophisticated enough to know the difference between Indians and Middle Eastners and between Hindus and Muslims and between Arabic and Tamil.
I can decide to do two things, report it to the police and trust them to handle situation or do nothing. If I report this to cops, the worst case is that he is innocent and cops will send him on next flight and the best case is stopping a terrorist attack. If I don’t report this to cops, the worst case is that a terrorist incident will happen and the best is that nothing happens.
So if you compare the worst in each scenario, I would choose to report the said suspicous person to the cops.
End of experiment. It is okay to be reported and questioned for sometime before letting go. The problem comes is when this vigilante actions goes to extreme. Recently, one vigilante passenger attacked and pinned a jewish architect on a plane even after the captain told the passenger that the jewish guy is cleared.
But there is nothing wrong in the said Seattle scenario. It is not the best case scenario but in post911 wishing better would be wishful thinking. It is not always easy to figure out who is suspicious and who is not by just looking even for trained cop. There are people going through much worse than just getting delayed.
This is what I do when I go through screening and while I am on the plane: 1) Look non-chalant 2) Look and smile at other passengers and screeners if they look at you 3) Make small conversation if possible 4) Order a drink in the plane (excuse to drink :)) 5) Don’t go to bathroom before ordering a drink 6) Answer clearly and keep all docs with you
As long it is just a polite questioning and delayed flight, we shouldn’t complain. Anything worse is breakdown in the system and should be protested.
OK you are off the hook. 🙂 You bring god into betterment it can get all twisted.
Amen to that. I don’t think you are inviting trouble Ismat. I support your choice and those that make it everyday. You are being you. And if someone has a problem with who you are then you’ll cross that bridge when you get there.
My question is this: what does it take to become a suspicious person at an airport? Is it just speaking a foreign language while looking brown? Did this guy do something else that got some random passerby’s attention? I mean, calling a cop or security or a TSA person is kind of a big deal. I wouldn’t do it lightly, myself. I’m just wondering if we’ve gotten to the point that enough jittery / freaked out / stupid / do-gooder type people are now roving the airports looking for signs of terrorists that this is going to become a real problem.
I suspect it will.
It would be nice if the finger-pointer had to undergo at least some consequences for stopping everything and going, “j’accuse!” I mean, if he or she had to wait around until the detainee was allowed to board his or her flight, that might help. I would consciously miss my flight if I felt I was witnessing a potential terrorist threat shaping up. I might think twice about reporting some random guy for speaking a language I don’t understand if I knew I wasn’t going to make my connection in Chicago, though.
As long as you’re not doing it purposefully…just to ‘rub it in’, I don’t see any reason for changing the way you walk, talk, or dress.
Not sure what that means, but I wouldn’t do something I wouldn’t normally do. The point is, why should I feel afraid to behave in a way (ie speak in Urdu, cover my head) that is typical and usual for me, as long as I am not breaking any laws?
why should I feel afraid to behave in a way
of course you shouldn’t. but, there is a distinction between how the world should be, and how it is, and until one can make the world how it should be, one must keep in mind how it is. no one here would think anyone should have to behave anyway, though i suspect some might offer that the constraints of the world as they are now imply particular courses of action if one is willing to concede on principles in the interests of short term considerations (e.g., prioritize having to get to the business meeting and sacrifice pride & self-respect).
money isnt that important to me….d@mn. I would never sacrifice those things for all the money in the world…
Try the three year-old in the row ahead sticking his head between the seats and spraying the couple sitting next to you with projectile vomit, in the first hour of a jam-packed Houston to London flight…
Speaking of profiling… I’m not especially dark, but I get a fair amount of airport aggro, presumably for my long beard. OH NOES!!!AMERICAN TALIBAN!!1!!11! There have been several incidents… when cancelled flights left me stuck with a one-way ticket… or when I braincramped and stuck a battery-powered talking doll in my carry-on bag… where I ended up getting groped like a prom queen at a biker rally. I was especially popular during my last trip to Europe. By the time I got back home I was convinced that I looked like a terrorist… not just any terrorist but a specific, notorious bad guy. I still wonder at times what became of my evil twin… if he’s still roaming the wilds of Afghanistan, Chechnya or wherever…
Far safer than Punjab was, but still unsafe enough that I don’t want to make a point out of being my usual brash and surly self. I don’t feel that the point I make by speaking into my cell in Punjabi is worth the risk of 4 hours of detention.
On the other hand, I only restrict my behavior in that way in certain places. I also do my share in general to try to make social change, in part by blogging such incidents and keeping awareness of them up. I have a post that never got written on how I spent the first few months after 9/11 lobbying and advocating …
In short, I’m not about to compromise on the rehat, but I do act extra friendly, when I fly. And yes, I do restrict my behavior in small but meaningful ways because of the risks.
Ismat:
Some people wrote comments that next time they’ll make it a point to talk loudly in their native lang..so as to attract attention. Personally I would never do such a thing. This does not mean that I won’t talk in Hindi…or that I would whisper while talking on the phone. I plan to be ‘my own self’ at the airport…nothing artificial.
I hear you, Razib, but the point is that if I modify my behavior (behavor that is perfectly legal, btw, and something I’m entitled to), then I’m only perpetuating the problem. I guess I have to put my money where my mouth is, but so far, I haven’t compromised myself because I’m afraid someone will think I’m a terrorist. I think those who do are actually doing us brownz a collective disservice. Like I said, I’ve been fortunate in that I haven’t faced any major obstacles thus far when I’m traveling (and I don’t consider having to take my shoes off or get an extra security screening an obstacle), but if and when I do, I’d like to think I’ll stand for my rights.
brown_fob:
I suppose you were referring to my comment:
I was just trying to be sarcastic; I didn’t literally mean I’d do what I could to attract attention. Heh. That’s just me being obnoxious.
Yet, why should you have to do that? My normal pre-9/11 behavior was if somebody stared at me suspiciously, I would stare back. Right now, if a white person is surly, he’s just having a bad day, but if a brown person doesn’t smile and glares at you, that is a suspicious sign (I’ve seen this discussed). You could uphold your rights to act as you normally would, or you can go out of your way to assuage their paranoia by smiling back at their rudeness. You’re chosing the later, and that’s one of the small ways I also modify my behavior. Honestly, to me, smiling when I’m pissed off is a lot harder than speaking in English for the brief conversations I have when I’m flying …
The off-duty airline employee was Telugu. The Telugus think that Tamil is aravam, a collection of stones rattling inside a bottle.
I would argue that Tamil is a language that hasn’t been heard in about 50 years. The only form of Tamil that is spoken today is a bizarre Tamlish that varies depending upon the location in which it is spoken. I can barely understand a conversation in pure Tamil (for examples, see old Sivaji Ganeshan movies where he plays a king of old or a character from Hindu mythology).
I have lived in Seattle for the past couple of years and flown out of Sea-Tac many times, nothing like this ever happened. I chatted on the cell to pass time waiting for the flight, speaking Hinglish (Hindi+English). Really, weird to see something like this happen in Seattle.
No spoken language can be dubbed as “real”– only colloquial forms of a proto-language are spoken. more “proto” or “pure” forms of language are usually unspoken as they contain the original grammar that has gone unspoken since the inception of a language. the old movies may have a more classic dialect, but it would still be a dialect. that’s my little linguistics tip!!
hi sriram!!
Growing up, my neighbours were Tamil, and I’m embarrased that I didn’t learn any words. I haven’t heard Tamil for a long time, so I did a search on YouTube and came across this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tbgif4keOtM . It sounds awfully interesting, could someone please translate?
Which country was this, SA?
Translation of that song- Man: Why the 1 inch /2 inch/ 3 gap ? (“why don’t you let me get closer” is my interpretation) Woman: Will the (measuring) tape show 4 inch/5 inch/ 6 inch ?
I’m not quite sure what the second line means. The rest is all blah blah. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to look for my mind and take it out of the gutter.
The man promised he would only speak English in airports of his own accord. He was over-compensating, which is not unusual for people under suspicion.
“Man: Why the 1 inch /2 inch/ 3 gap ? (“why don’t you let me get closer” is my interpretation) Woman: Will the (measuring) tape show 4 inch/5 inch/ 6 inch ?
I’m not quite sure what the second line means”………..
Ask any woman here, we’ll tell you EXACTLY what it means…… hee hee hee!
didn’t someone tell this dude that Tamil is language of the LTTE – the LTTE are acknowledged worldwide to be terrorists – so…………………………..
Hmmm…..now you’re confusing me. The meaning I had in was supposed to be equally obvious to men and women. But that could be because my mind is still stuck in the gutter. That meaning just can’t be. shaking head. Not in a song with the very respectable and virtuous Vijay in it. Not in an Indian movie, no way! Now, what might the woman-specific meaning be ;-).
Your point being?. Acknowledged worldwide? It is also acknowledged that the Sri Lankan government does bad things to minorities.
Sorry for continuing the language tangent this is taking. Does aravam have any negative connotation? I thought it’s just an old/rural Telugu word (used only in parts of AP close to TN) for Tamil.
Finally! A use for all that duct tape!
I can use it to tape my mouth shut at airports.
Literally, aravam means a collection of stones rattling inside a bottle. Figuratively, aravam means a rough-sounding language.
Sadly, Tamil have no way of saying something like that about Telugu. Telugu (at least when spoken in style of the movie Sankarabharanam) is India’s sweetest language.
Are you kidding. Of course there is. Tamilians call telugu as goluti. No offence.
Thanks Kurma. That would be in Delhi.
I think it’s safe to assume that the in-gutter mind is right. I’ve heard that Tamil movies have a lot of slapstick in them.
Although I’m no fan of English infiltrating all our Indian languages (Tamlish, Hinglish, etc), I do think this concept of ‘pure’ language that so many in India have, has fossilized and to some extent killed our languages, as well as put them in ever weaker positions as far as resisting the onslaught of English. I don’t know much about Tamil but from what I’ve read, a really fossilised version is used as the literary tongue, which stopped evolving centuries ago, meanwhile the various spoken versions (which differ by caste as well as region) are largely unwritten and generally looked down upon. Telugu is another example, where it has to be extremely Sanskritised in order to be seen as pure. Hindi is another blatant example… a rather limited set of people (mostly Brahmins) from Uttar Pradesh had extremely disproportionate power to mold Hindi in ways that suited their ideology back in the 1800s. They took Urdu, removed all the Persian/Aracbic vocabulary, artificially introduced Sanskrit terms in their place, and voila! Hindi! Meanwhile the spoken form (at least in urban areas) continues to have many Perso-Arabic words, which to me is a far more natural reflection of the history of the language as well as the region. Doordarshan ‘shuddh’ Hindi is a fake, pompous, ridiculous creation that never even existed in times past. Whereas Hindi as a language actually has very deep roots, much variety, and enormous native vocabulary (including various regional dialects as well as Persian/Arabic borrowings). I wish people had a more educated and mature view of language in general.
amitabh can you back your assertion up. my understanding of hindi is limited but there seem to be some obvious gaps here.
not so. the publishing industry in india is very backward and is unable to promote literature to the masses. however, the sahitya akademi spreads the honors across various north indian languages.
again. anecdotal evidence on my part. but one of the leaders in the tamil political arena is a person by the name of karunanidhi who used to be a screenwriter. he is (so i’ve heard) known for writing extremely dense, but technically beautiful, screenplays.
i do know people who speak in “doordarshan hindi”, and i dont know what is ridiculous about it. and then you say hindi has deep roots and is derived from urdu – which seems a bit odd – because i would gauge that sanskrit predates either language by several hundred years at least. i am scratching my head here trying to see your point but it is really hard to cut through.
I think that the kind of mob-mentality driven behavior, demonstrated in these recent airport events, marks an alarming trend in contemporary society. When other passengers use their intuition to “identify” behaviour that is “suspicious,” they participate in furthering the practice of racial and ethnic profiling. We are supposed to be inclusive of all colors and all faiths, but the general public is stubbornly failing to remember that people who committ terrorist acts are not representative of entire continents, countries or faiths; they are only representative of very specific groups. In addition the average non-brown person usually cannot tell the difference between a person of Indian descent, Arabic descent, Persian descent or even Latino origins (and apparently Hasidic Jews are now perceived as a threat). They see a brown person, hear an unfamiliar language and allow their paranoia to carry them away. Even worse, the TSA wastes time investigating regular travellers. If our security system is so faulty that we rely on random passengers to indentify threats, then we have some serious revamping to do. The thing that is supposed to be beautiful about contemporary America is that its residents and citizens can celebrate their roots. I can’t imagine that anyone would be thrown off a plane for mixing Gaelic in with English. If the general population took a little bit of time to learn about South Asia, they may not be so judgmental.
One more thing, I don’t remember where I read this, but I saw a recent article (maybe it was here on SM) that noted that most people’s prejudices arise out of fear of the unknown and that of the people questioned, those that had a friend who practiced Islam did not categorically apply the terrorist label to every person who practices Islam. In contrast, those that had no Islamic friends, applied the terrorist label to everyone. My point is this, if these extremely fearful people let a little diversity into their lives, then maybe they would not be so alarmed at hearing one of the Indian languages or Arabic or the totally benign act of praying. (and maybe some of those situations would not repeat themselves)
I think that this is a situation where ignorance is only bliss for the ignorant. It is hell for everyone else.
One more thing, I don’t mean to minimize the pain that has been caused by the terrorist attacks and I understand that people are afraid. I certainly would not want to be in a position where I could have averted a terrorist attack and failed to do so. But I think that too much reliance on the observation of regular passangers can lead to a disproportionate amount of investigations of innocent people. And I think that it also creates a false sense of security. Detaining innocent people who pose no threat is not progress, it is a diversion of resources. If the risk of terrorist attacks is extremely high, then we need a security system that is much better than an overhead announcement asking that all suspicious behaviour be reported to TSA. I don’t know what that would be, I just know that a divisive world rife with discrimination does not feel like progress at all.