Racial Profiling Rears Its Head Again
JAs know all too well racial profiling didn't work during WWII and it doesn't work today. Yet many people are again calling for its use with the Muslim/Arab and South Asian communities, especially after the recent terrorist threats.
After a somewhat leave of absence, that controversial phrase is rearing its ugly head again: racial profiling.
With the mid-August announcement by British authorities that they had managed to foil a terrorist plot to explode 10 planes from the United Kingdom bound for the U.S., tensions in both countries are still frayed. Increased security at major U.S. airports had travelers dispensing all liquids including bottled water and make-up.
Although some of the airport rules have relaxed since then, anger towards Muslim and Arab Americans have many politicians, commentators, and bloggers demanding the U.S. implementation of racial profiling of persons of Muslim and South Asian descent.
Inevitably, the Japanese American community is mentioned in these discussions, a group notable for being the recipients of racial profiling during World War II. And both sides are using the JA WWII internment to push for and against the use of profiling.
But JAs knows all too well racial profiling wasn't the answer back then and it isn't the answer today.
"Racial profiling is not the answer," said Larry Oda, JACL national president. "It is an activity that makes people feel they are doing something to protect themselves while it is really just a violation of civil rights under the guise of national security. The Japanese American experience in World War II is an example of illegal racial profiling."
"During times of crisis when national security is threatened, fear is a driving force. Japanese Americans were interned in 1942 under the guise of national security, though the pretext was racism based in unwarranted fears," said Bill Yoshino, JACL Midwest director.
Yet the experiences of the JA community and the fact that history has repeatedly noted the internment as a phenomenal mistake by the U.S. government has not stopped many people from pushing for racial profiling today.
Shortly after the British foiled the terrorist plots recently, Paul Nelson, a Republican congressional candidate from northwestern Wisconsin, pushed for racial profiling of all Muslim males.
"Racial profiling is one way that we can cut down on security risks," Nelson said in an interview with WIXK Radio in New Richmond. "It's time to stop being politically correct here and be serious and tough on the war on terror."
House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King also pushed for people of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" descent to undergo additional security checks even if they are U.S. citizens.
"If the threat is coming from a particular group, I can understand why it would make sense to single them out for further questioning," said King in a Newsday report.
Republican candidate Mark Flanagan pushed for the use of racial profiling of Muslim men at airports in an interview with Fox News Channel. He believes suspending civil liberties for security purposes is sometimes needed, pointing to the JA WWII internment as a successful example.
With the recent terrorist plot so close to the fifth anniversary of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks, it seems many Americans are finding it difficult to muster sympathy for the Muslim and Arab American communities.
Media reports about people taking action into their own hands are not uncommon with passengers demanding that suspicious-looking Muslims and Asians be taken off their flights before allowing the plane to take off.
In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 39 percent said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims and the same percentage said they want Muslims to carry special ID cards even if they are U.S. citizens as a means to thwart terrorist attacks.
Although the JA community joins the rest of America in condemning the 9/11 attacks and all acts of terrorism, they will not sway from reproaching any attempts to implement racial profiling.
"Profiling on the basis of ethnicity has proven not only discriminatory and unconstitutional but has not served the national security needs of the United States. As a Japanese American internee in World War II, I witnessed the irreparable harm that such policies can do to our country," said Rep. Mike Honda, CA-15, chair of CAPAC (Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus).
"America is the beacon of democracy to the rest of the world, and our enemies rejoice when we sink to their level. Rather than persecuting Americans of Muslim and South Asian descent, we should strengthen our relationship with these communities to more effectively work together towards our shared goal of protecting our nation."
"Racial profiling has plagued many of our nation's law enforcement authorities," said Rep. David Wu, executive board member of CAPAC. "Not only is this inappropriate practice a violation of civil rights, it takes away valuable and limited resources from protecting Americans from real threats to our safety."
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta refused to cowtow to arguments pushing for the use of racial profiling and today this method of tracking potential terrorists is still not an official policy of the U.S. government and remains unconstitutional. Instead of racial profiling, observing a person's behavior is standard policy at the TSA (Transportation Security Administration).
"TSA is absolutely committed to not profiling," said Jennifer Marty-Peppin, TSA spokesperson. "SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) is a program being used by the TSA in about a dozen airports currently and adheres to privacy and civil rights. SPOT looks at involuntary muscle reactions that will betray a terrorists' mission and does not stereotype what a terrorist looks like."
The ineffectiveness of racial profiling has been seen over and over in this country. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh did not raise the alert of authorities since they were looking for Arab terrorists. And in the current war on terror, arrests of shoe bomber Richard Reid, a Britain, and Jose Padilla, an alleged Chicano gang member, seem to illustrate that al Qaeda has been recruiting a diverse following.
"As a country, we have to remember who we are and adhere to our important values," said Yoshino. "We treat people fairly in a non-selective manner - all people. If you rely on profiling, you're going to miss those who don't fit the profile and we've already seen stark examples of that."
"We want a scapegoat to focus our attention so we can be left alone to do as we wish, and the most convenient scapegoat is the person who looks like the enemy," added Oda. "It was wrong to do this to us in 1942 and it is wrong today.
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