Introduction
The period after September 11 was a delicate period. The American airlines flight 11 and the united airlines flight 175 had been hijacked and crashed into the twin towers of the World trade centre in New York. The hijackers had been of Middle Eastern descent, members of the terrorist group of Al-Qaida. The flights had departed from Boston and were heading towards Los Angeles when the hijackers altered the routes and committed the terrorist attacks (MacDonald, 2003). The hijackers were nineteen in number ranging of the ages between twenty and forty five years old. On the same day, the American airlines flight 77 departed Washington on its way to Los Angeles. It was also hijacked and crashed into the pentagon. On the same morning, United airlines flight 93 which had left Newark airport for San Francisco was also hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania near Shanksville.
The country was devastated. A total of three thousand people had been killed in the attack. Previously in 1983, there had been terrorist attacks in Beirut, Lebanon. There were only less than five hundred people killed. It paled in comparison to September attacks. There had been truck bombings of the U.S and the French military barracks. It was a new level of crime in the United States as these were suicide terrorists. The war against terrorism was stepped up by the United States administration. The country of Afghanistan was invaded as it was a hub for the Al-Qaeda group. The airports were now under a higher level of security surveillance. President Bush immediately signed the Aviation Transportation Security Act into law. The airports now had to appoint sky marshals in the airports.
A new Federal Administration Security Administration was put in place to oversee the security operations of all modes of commercial passenger air transportation. By October 2002, the Bush administration had identified 39 terrorist groups and frozen the assets of 62 organisations that were deemed to be supporting terrorist activities.
However even as the country stepped up the security measures in the airports there were cries of racial profiling. The Middle Eastern populations felt that they were being targeted as possible terrorists in the United States of America. There were a lot of arguments between different scholars and experts with those who advocated for racial profiling in the airports to enhance security and those who viewed racial profiling in airports as downright unconstitutional.
Arguments against Racial Profiling
The truth of the matter is that racial profiling in airports is unconstitutional. It goes against the United States bill of rights. The fourteenth amendment to the constitution states that there shall be law that hinders the privileges or the immunities of the United States citizens.
The constitution prohibits the application of the law on certain persons differently on the basis of their race. Secondly, the scholars against racial profiling put forward that it is an ineffective way of catching the criminals or terrorists. Racial profiling assumes that the terrorists will not change their physical appearance or religious affiliations. They are smart people who are impassioned with their desire to kill that they will do anything to blend in the society (Harcout, 2006).
If the government commits to racial profiling, it should know that the terrorists are a smart bunch. There are also arguments that racial profiling has no
statistical data supporting the success of the method. It has been argued that counter terrorist security measures in the long run tend to be ineffective. A case in point is the introduction of the metal detectors in the airports. Once they were introduced, the number of airplane hijackings reduced all over the world however there was a significant increase in the number of bombings, assassinations and hostage takings situations. It is also the same case when it came to target hardening of the American Embassies in foreign countries after the bomb attacks in the African countries.
The number of assassinations increased. There is also evidence that the suicide bombers initially used to be men however right now that have changed. The number of women and teenage suicide bombers is rapidly increasing. There are arguments that counter terrorism efforts usually cause a spike in other kinds of terrorists’ attacks and at times may actually increase the terrorist attack rates. It is seen as people are advocating for discrimination of people of Middle Eastern descent so as to prevent the future attacks of other people.
It is in essence committing a wrong in order to achieve a correct or acceptable outcome in the future. Does this make discrimination acceptable at all? Is the use of discrimination practices an absolute wrong or a relative wrong? Is it acceptable that now people are facing a complex and dangerous era of terrorists attacks? In light of all these pertinent questions, there are calls that racial profiling should never be used. There is no trade off point for the use of the method since it has not even been proven that the
method works. There are no concrete statistical results supporting the method. Since in racial profiling, the Muslim young men have the ability to substitute themselves and recruit other members to do the job, racial profiling should never be considered. The effectiveness of racial profiling should be such that the same parameters of the profile can be used again and again at other times in the future. Since it is not a stable criteria and it is likely to keep changing, then it should be discarded.
Arguments in favour of Racial Profiling
There are however cases where racial profiling may be allowed since it will secure the physical security of the mass population. Sperry in an article in the New York times after the July, 2005 bombings in London advocated for racial profiling putting forward that the police should be on the lookout of young Muslim men. When it came to bombing suspects, it would not be the elderly or the children but the young Muslims (Sperry, 2005). He went forward to argue his case that the insurance companies carried out profiles on their clients in terms of risk since it was a smart decision to do so. That being the case in the business world, the police or the security personnel should also engage in racial profiling in order to reduce the security risk of the citizens of the country. There was a similar article in the Washington post. The author put forward that the use of politically correct screenings will not help the country catch the Jihadists. Yes, the mixed race individual in the train may not be a terrorist at all nor has no ill intention to harm anyone.
However, the one who ends up bombing the train will probably be able to trace his origins in the region between Mauritania and Indonesia (Krauthammer, 2005).
There should be a clarification of two terms that is profiling and discrimination. Discrimination occurs where someone of a different race is denied opportunities or benefits due to their racial features. It is a negative vice. In the same way that discrimination is viewed is the way racial profiling is perceived by the public.
They both have a negative connotation. However, what people should consider is that there is racial profiling that is not discriminatory in nature. It is rational and necessary. It is not in any way improper. The truth is that the mathematical probability of an Arab passenger causing a mass suicide terrorist is higher than the probability of a Caucasian male causing the terrorist attack. Even if the probability of the Arab being a terrorist is small, the probability of the White terrorist is even smaller.
With such facts then the airline security measures have to put laws in consideration of race of passengers for the protection of the passengers. The country faces a clear and present danger of terrorist attacks therefore the government has to take all the precautionary steps. There are incidences in history where racial profiling has worked to catch criminals. In the year 1999, the custom officials of Port Angeles in New York were on the lookout specifically for Middle Eastern men when they stopped an Algerian, Ahmed Rassam when he was coming into America from the United States. When his car was searched, the security officials found bomb making materials that were believed
to have been intended to bomb the Los Angeles Airport. The same material was found to have been used in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam terrorist bomb attacks in the American embassies. The man was arrested and sentenced to 140 years in Jail. In December 2001, it was noticed that one of the passengers, Richard Reid, a British citizen who had converted to Islam had been trying to ignite the soles of his feet. The soles were actually made of explosives. It was on a fight from Miami to Paris and it was the flight attendant who noted what the passenger was trying to do. She called other security officials and they were able to subdue the man. If the man had been subjected to a controlled profiling exercise, he would have been singled out and the chaos would have been avoided. The truth of the matter is that proportion of the people of the Islamic faith are the ones who have joined the Al-Qaeda network of terrorists.
There are legitimate concerns on racial profiling however. There are fears that the process may be taken to the extreme. Take the case of Ashraf Khan who had been seated in a Delta Airways flight. The pilot of the plane approached him and told him to alight from the plane. The pilot did not consider it safe to have him aboard the plane. There are scholars who argue that racial profiling could lead to dire consequences even as the law enforcement officers seek to create security in the country.
There is the argument that unfortunately social profiling will not stop at the airports alone or on the roads.
It will extend to other spheres of the citizen’s lives. In fact, there are concerns that which professions will people of Middle Eastern origins be able to take as their career. With the introduction of racial profiling they will not be able to even take up courses such as piloting as people will see him as a potential mass bomber in the future (Reagan, 2001) It will definitely lead to police officers stopping motorists who are Arabs specifically to question and search their vehicles yet motorists of different racial descent are being allowed to move on. This is highly unlikely.
Racial profiling is restricted in the airports. Secondly, the citizens who will be treated negatively and feel that it has been taken too far have the opportunity to seek legal redress in a court of law. There have also been those who feel that judging whether someone of Middle Eastern origin is going to be a difficult exercise considering the level of intermarriage in today’s society. Looking at the photos of the terrorists who were involved in the September 2011 terrorist’s attacks, some definitely look Middle Eastern however there are those who look almost Caucasian. However, the scholars who are arguing from this point of view have not really grasped the concept of racial profiling. Racial profiling is not just about race, it is used in combination of other factors such as the religion of the person. Racial profiling is used as part of a multi profiling process. It is not the single exclusive factor used in the profile.
It is also wrong to think that racial profiling will solely be based on only visual markers of the individual. One should also put into consideration that racial profiling is not an exact science, it is still an area that is developing.
Racial profiling is a sensitive topic in the United States of America due to the history the country has had when it comes to slavery and the Native Indians. However when terrorist attacks occur the country has to thoroughly appraise its security measures to ensure that they are serving to protect the interests of the American people. In fearing to unearth certain feelings that were there in the past, the government will not be at its best in protecting the American people. All wishful thinking that we are living in easier times must be dealt with. Terrorism is a very deadly crime which the perpetrators have chosen to kill in mass numbers. In fact, it should not be called racial profiling. It can be called rational profiling due to the negative connotation associated with racial profiling.
It is obvious that the practice of racial profiling will have to be carried out with caution as it can be abused by people with ill intention who may be racists. They may not consider racial factors in light of other factors. They may consider the racial element alone and even go aboard. However, the government and other bodies can come up with a system of checks and balances to ensure everything runs smoothly. We cannot simply abandon the method yet it can help save American lives. We cannot always get an option that will not be risky. The government has to take all steps to ensure the safety of the people. Even with the oversight system in place, if there are improper incidences of racial profiling, an individual knows they can always seek legal redress or assistance.
References
Harcout, B. (2006) Muslim Profiles Post 9/11: Is Racial Profiling an Effective Counterterrorist Measure and Does It Violate the Right to Be Free from Discrimination? Web.
Krauthammer, C. (2005) Give Grandma A Pass. Washington Post, Web.
McDonald(2003) Rational Profiling in America’s Airports. Web.
Regan, T.(2001) Racial Profiling is not the Answer to Security Concerns. Christian Sci.Monitor. Web.
Sperry, P.(2005) When the Profile Fits the Crime. New York Times. Web.