Jessica

Vozel

Read Jessica's bio and previous columns here

January 5, 2009

Muslims on Airplanes in America’s Culture of Fear

On my first post-9/11 flight, just before takeoff, myself and a few other nervous passengers had a commonplace airplane conversation: If the plane were to crash, what parts of the plane would fare the best? Those who saw the first season of Lost argued the front was safest. But what if the plane did a nosedive? We all agreed that sitting at a window seat beside one of the ominous jet propellers (as I was at the time) is a bit creepy – one can’t help but imagine watching as a fiery explosion issues forth from the mechanism keeping the plane from plummeting through the clouds. 

People are nervous on airplanes. Talking about the possibility of a crash seems to lessen the likelihood that it will happen. We spoke quietly, but during our conversation, the seasoned travelers seated around us may have been annoyed (mostly they kept their heads buried in newspapers, books and electronic devices). Beyond that, we received no punishment. Lucky for us, we were all white. 

At Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. on Thursday, a Muslim family of nine (including three children) were kicked off an AirTran flight bound for Orlando, Florida. According to one of the detained passengers, Inayet Sahin, the family was discussing, as they walked down the aisle to their seats, the safest place to sit.

In their case, other passengers were not annoyed but afraid, and, after misconstruing the remarks, reported the family to the flight attendants. The family, along with a family friend who happened to be on the same flight, was taken off the plane and questioned by the FBI, who were, according to Atif Irfan, a tax attorney, professional and polite to his family. They were cleared to fly.

But the airline wouldn’t let them back on the plane. AirTran issued a refund, but would not reimburse them for the tickets they had to purchase from another airline, with the aid of the FBI agents.

Here’s the kicker, though: AirTran issued no official apology. In fact, the statement given by AirTran representative Tad Hutcheson amounted to an additional slap in the face for the family:

"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutchenson said. “Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance.”

Made comments they shouldn’t have? Are they eight-year-olds who used swear words in the cafeteria? Are Americans so afraid for our own safety that we are comfortable with screening the language of adults and speaking of them as if they were naïve children? As Irfan pointed out, the family did not use the words “bomb,” “explosion” or “terror.” Those are words one knows better than to use on an airplane. When my fellow passengers and I discussed the safest locations on a plane, we never thought twice about it. We didn’t have to. 

Hutchenson seems to suggest that the fact that the family was Muslim was incidental, that anyone making such remarks would have received the same treatment. I beg to differ. 

Even worse, perhaps, have been the comments about this news story. It seems that Internet news sites with anonymous commenting capabilities bring out the worst in people. After one commentator at The Washington Post suggested all Muslims boycott AirTran flights, another replied, “And when that happens, I'm flying AirTran every chance I get. At least I'll know I'll have a better chance of getting to my destination without passing through a skyscraper.”

Another suggests that those defending the Irfan family watch the YouTube video of anti-Israeli demonstrations on December 31 to see why profiling is a useful technique for curbing violence.  Obviously, that person needs to watch a video of Nazi concentration camps or Ku Klux Klan demonstrations to see the hate that white-skinned people are capable of, and from which most other white-skinned people can happily distance themselves. 

This is what happens in a culture of fear. Americans, not content with secluded suburbs, must now construct walls and gates to live behind. They give up their civil liberties and excuse the denigration of the civil liberties of others, in the name of “safety.” In a fear culture, Americans cannot see shades of gray: If you are Muslim, you are a threat. If you are a Muslim, you are tied to terrorists.

In a time when America can make great progress as a nation, I worry that fear will hold us back. 

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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