[Mb-civic] Flying the Hysterical Skies

Fri Aug 6 18:20:04 PDT 2004

Flying the Hysterical Skies

By Margaret Kimberley, The Black Commentator
 Posted on August 5, 2004, Printed on August 6, 2004
 http://www.alternet.org/story/19462/

What happened on Northwest Airlines flight 327? The question has been on the
lips of the press, public and punditry ever since the story was published on
the website WomensWallStreet.com.

The author of the article, Annie Jacobsen, was traveling with her family
from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29, 2004. She and other passengers grew
frightened when 14 Middle Eastern men behaved in what they felt was a
"suspicious" manner during the flight. One gave her a "cold defiant look"
and others went to the bathroom in succession. The crew shared Ms.
Jacobsen's alarm and dialed the airline equivalent of 911. When the plane
landed in Los Angeles the FBI and other law enforcement personnel were on
hand.

A subsequent search of the plane turned up nothing suspicious and it was
later confirmed that the group of men were musicians on their way to a
performance near Los Angeles. By now, however, the tale has been spread all
across the Internet and on radio and television talk shows. It has become
commonly accepted that the musicians were practicing for a terrorist attack
or might have planted explosives on the aircraft.

September 11 made it easy to justify racial profiling and this story has
bolstered the argument. Anyone who questions the practice is dismissed as
"politically correct," naïve, or forgetful of the terror attack that took
nearly 3,000 lives.

If it is acceptable to be queasy on a plane if a group of Arabs go to the
bathroom on a three-hour flight it should also be acceptable to assume the
worst about other groups. If Arabs can be automatically suspected of
terrorism just because they are Arabs, then white people should be suspected
of chicanery, thievery, and corruption, just because they are white.
Paranoia is often justified, and we should not exclude any group from our
own personal security alerts.

Richard Grasso was CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, which unbeknownst to
all but a few, is a non-profit organization. Mr. Grasso was forced out of
his job but not before he convinced a passive board of powerful New York
movers and shakers to give him an exit bonus totaling $139 million.

When the startling sum was made public, Board Chairman H. Carl McCall,
former Comptroller of New York  and the only African American ever elected
to statewide office  was forced to resign due to the board's dereliction of
duty. Not only has Mr. Grasso refused to return any of the money wrongly
given to him but he has sued his successor, John Reed, for defamation
because Reed had the gall to criticize the pay package.

The list of corruption, conflicts of interest and outright theft among the
white, high and mighty is a long one indeed. Who bankrupted Enron? If one
listens to those on the daily "perp walk" the culprit is a mystery. Ken Lay,
a fund-raiser for George W. Bush, pleads ignorance. His cohorts who cashed
in their chips before the bottom fell out on Enron employees and their
401(k)s are likewise clueless, even as they cut deals with prosecutors to
get the shortest prison sentences possible.

Who worsened prescription drug coverage for retirees? It wasn't Arabs,
terrorist or otherwise. It was white American politicians, lobbyists,
pharmaceutical companies and a corrupted AARP. The recently passed Medicare
prescription drug package will not provide adequate coverage for needy
seniors, but it also imperils coverage that millions of middle-class
Americans already have.

If Arabs should be suspect while in flight, then white people should not be
allowed near anyone's money. Taxpayers, shareholders, and workers have all
been taken by the group that is most trusted but is the least worthy of
anyone's trust. The United States is occupying Iraq, incurring the wrath of
the Iraqi people and millions more around the world. The total of American
soldiers killed in action now stands at 900. The Iraqi death toll is 11,000.
Anyone who wanted payback for September 11 should be happy. The Iraqis have
paid a very high price for the American desire for revenge.

Of course, powerful white people in executive suites brought this tragedy to
fruition. They wanted to make lots and lots of money. So began a litany of
no bid contracts, deals to transport oil to an oil-rich nation, jobs for
non-Iraqis (while Iraqis look for work) and immunity from prosecution for
any corporate wrongdoing.

To those who argue that we can't take a chance with suspicious Arabs I say
that we should be consistent. If we can profile in the airport we should
profile in banks, board rooms and in the halls of Congress. White people
should be banned from involvement in any transactions involving large sums
of money. If every Arab can be a presumed Mohammed Atta, then every white
man should be a presumed Richard Grasso or Ken Lay. Let's have racial
profiling everywhere in America. We will all feel a lot safer.