All brownz must speak English in this airport

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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!

163 thoughts on “All brownz must speak English in this airport”

  3. but i think reiterating that one can disapprove, or be in disagreemant with, what one defends is an insight that needs to be reinforced over and over, because a lot of people don’t get it, and it doesn’t come naturally.

    Apparently, you are right! especially in light of comment #

  5. also,

    But the point is that I cannot just say, “I’m flying today, so I choose to not do purdah.” That’s like asking me to fly topless. It’s not an option for me.

    ismat might not generalize her rationalization for why she wear’s purdah, but my own impression is that this is a major issue:

    a) if you reason that not wearing a hijab is analogy to being “topless”

    b) and most women do not wear a hijab

    does not that entail that most women are going “topless” operationally? when a muslim woman says that she wears the hijab because she has “self respect” and that she is like a “pearl which must be cherished,” does not that entail that those who do not wear a hijab have no self respect and are not pearls who must be cherished?

    of course you can reason one’s way around these implications, but, most people are pretty stupid and have minimal rational faculties.

  7. I think there is some conflation here between purdah and hijab. Purdah is strict gender segregation while hijab is purportedly a component of the modest attire allegedly mandated for Muslim women in Verse 24:31. Here is a website for the advocacy of the hijab.

  8. Yes its a metro thing. one of my Sikh friends told me this joke in high school- a surd by definition is irrational.

    Math jokes are sometimes helped by explanatory links 🙂

  9. AMFD/Razib, I don’t think you get it. I agree with you. Question all you want–you should. I believe it’s entirely necessary, and we need such dialogue. I’m not sure how much more plainly I can state this. “Are religous dogmas beyond reproach?” Not at all. I’m not questioning your questioning; I’m saying that in this particular debate, it has no relevance. I stand by that. I didn’t, as you put it, take umbrage when you questioned my wisdom. “Am I undermining their right by not agreeing to put their memorabilia on my fridge?” No, and I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t question their actions. I basically said that in comment 136, I’m not sure why you think I have a “profound misunderstanding” of how civil rights activists think and operate. I rightly wonder why you bring up your belief in the moral repugnancy of purdah in a debate during which we’re discussing whether or not I should have to remove my hijab to fly. That is all.

  10. ^ Haha, nice!

    Yes, it is used a lot in Delhi for Sikh jokes. It’s usually coupled with ‘Absurd’.

  13. Re-reading the comments, it seems I sailed in without properly reading what was being argued. Apologies, AMJ, for saying you sounded like a fascist – I missed the function of the neo-nazi and pedophile examples and took them as straight comparison.