Sunday, March 8, 2009

Passenger forced to cover Arabic t-shirt wins big - so does Free Speech

Raed Jarrer is a blogger.

Or was.

Now he is a man $330,000 richer after winning a fairly straight-forward case against the TSA and JetBlue Airlines.

The background to the story is simple. Jarrer went through security on his way to board his JetBlue flight.

Jarrar, a US resident, was apprehended as he waited to board a JetBlue
flight from New York to Oakland, California, and told to remove his shirt, which
had written on it in Arabic: "We will not be silent."

He was told other passengers felt uncomfortable because an
Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank
stating, `I am a robber,'" the ACLU said.

Jarrar eventually agreed to cover his shirt with another provided by
JetBlue. He was allowed aboard but his seat was changed from the front to the
back of the aircraft.

I find the analogy to bank robbery especially fascinating. It seems to imply many different levels of ignorance and even a hint of racism. It is a good and fair ruling from the court, and I think it may actually make a difference. There is a huge problem with the TSA culture that places Arabic speakers and Muslims at the top of some sort of crazy threat list.

I completely understand where the fear comes from, but I think it's misguided. Especially with a shirt that doesn't say anything offensive, there's no need for this kind of behaviour or attiude.

[Source: The Age]