Prayer Free Zone
For a country that supposedly exalts religion, we are very intolerant when the religion being practiced is anything but Christian. And when that religion is Muslim, we know no bounds.
I have posted a number of incidents related to problems that have arisen when flying while Arab, see here and here, incuding the Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada plane in Montreal for praying in-flight (Jews, Arabs -- they look & sound alike, you know) and the six Arab men who were not allowed to fly board a plane -- because they looked Arab.
In what is becoming depressingly familiar, the latest incident is from the San Franciscan Gate, 6 Imams Removed From Twin Cities Flight. The article covers the latest in airline terrorism -- airlines terrorizing passengers, that is. As the AP article reports:
As I noted before in Are Armbands Next -- It's the Muslim version of "Driving While Black" -- "Flying While Arab."Six Muslim clerics removed from a US Airways flight said Tuesday they were victims of discrimination and called for a boycott of the airline.
The imams were removed from the flight to Phoenix on Monday night after three of them said their normal evening prayers in the terminal in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before boarding, said Omar Shahin, president of the North American Imams Federation. They were among the 150 imams who attended a federation meeting in Minneapolis.
"The police came and take us off the plane in front of all the passengers in a very humiliated way," said Shahin. "I never felt bad in my life like yesterday. It was the worst moment in my life when I see six imams, six leaders in this community, humiliated."
They said they were questioned by police and the FBI, detained in a holding cell with loud music and occasionally surrounded by police dogs.
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An airport police report said the flight's captain had already decided he wanted the men off the plane after the passenger passed a flight attendant a note pointing out "Arabic men."
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On Tuesday, US Airways refused to honor the group's tickets or allow them to buy new ones, saying their payment for Monday's flight had been refunded.
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US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader, who came to the airport to see the scholars, said she didn't have much information about what happened in Minneapolis and wasn't prepared to apologize.
UPDATE: The Washington Post, Imams Stage Airport 'Pray-In' As Protest, reports:
Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a "pray-in" demonstration Monday at Reagan Washington National Airport and asked an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight last week.At least we now know who makes the No Fly decisions . Notice that US Air did not apologize for the behavior of the crew -- the crew gets to decide who stays and goes and the airline agrees.The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it was unacceptable in America.
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US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said prayer was never the issue. She said the passenger overheard anti-U.S. statements and the men got up and moved around the airplane.
"We're sorry the imams had a difficult time, but we do think the crews have to make these calls and we think they made the right one," she said.
And I respond to the religious leaders objecting to the racial profiling: Welcome to America.
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