ACLU Sues JetBlue Airways Over Arabic T-Shirt

Although the event happened nearly a year ago, JetBlue Airways' actions are under scrutiny after ACLU was brought in. Raed Jarrar, a simple architect of Arabic descent, was stopped by security after trying to fly from New York to Oakland in August, 2006. He cleared two check points before being stopped by someone known as "Inspector Harris" and was told that he had to remove his shirt because it did not make other passengers comfortable. Harris told him that wearing that shirt was like wearing a shirt that said "I am a robber" at a bank.

The shirt said "We will not be silent" written on it in English and Arabic, not "I am a terrorist".

"It was clear that Mr. Jarrar was not a security threat and was singled out solely because of his ethnicity and the constitutionally protected speech on his t-shirt. Rather than censor Raed, the TSA official and Jet Blue should have assured any uncomfortable passengers that there was absolutely no public safety or security risk," said Aden Fine, an ACLU senior staff attorney.

Although Jarrar tried to claim his constitutional right to freedom of expression, he became intimidated when surrounded by JetBlue officials. Due to previous news reports of arrests and indefinite holdings, Jarrar feared that he would now be the victim; he was then forced to compromise with wearing an alternate T-Shirt on top of his. Although this may seemed to have been a "fair" compromise, Jarrar was forced to sit in the back of plane, no doubt due to fear of hijacking, with his rights taken away and humiliated.

Racial profiling is illegal but it has gone unchecked for quite some time; ever since 9/11, airports have expanded security to unreasonable levels and this will lead to loss of rights: "It is a dangerous and slippery slope when we allow our government to take away a person's rights because of his speech or ethnic background," said Reginald Shuford, a senior staff attorney. Not only this, racial profiling does not actually work because it assumes an entire race thinks the same way. It is pathetic that the government still allows such a primitive technique to be in use when there are much better techniques.

ACLU and Jarrar subsequently sued Transportation Security Administration and JetBlue Airways for illegal discrimination and suppressing the right to freedom of expression. The case will also be used to raise awareness of how airports have been using discrimination for the past six years to illegally stop a person from flying. The Department of Transportation reports that they have received complaints of discrimination for every month in the past six years including several from JetBlue Airways.

Sources: ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger Wearing Arabic T-Shirt, ACLU