…apparently not if it’s in Arabic. Ignorant passengers in an NYC airport equated well-known blogger and political activist Raed Jarrar’s t-shirt with Arabic (and English) writing as meaning he must be a terrorist. So airport security made him change into a happy little gift-shop-purchased shirt before he got on his Jet Blue flight. The t-shirt said “We will not be silent.” made by the Artists Against the War campaign.
Us ‘merikans sure is smart and worldly sometimes! I’m not proud of it, but sometimes I think certain people deserve to live their life in fear, it’s their own fault for being so close-minded and racist. Don’t they understand there are other countries and languages out there? Hard to believe I know, but people speak languages other than English and that doesn’t make them EVIL! I know a lot more evil people who speak English, not Arabic… ::cough cough:: George Bush. Well– he tries to speak English anyway.
Should I be worried that some scared and stupid Americans are going to complain about the bumper stickers on my car and officials are going to tell me to remove them? Is that what our freedom has come down to now? Just some more tearing away at the fabric of our freedom… one thread here, another there… soon we’ll all be naked… yikes.
An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words “We will not be silent” before boarding a flight at New York.
Raed Jarrar said security officials warned him his clothing was offensive after he checked in for a JetBlue flight to California on 12 August.
Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US.
US transport officials are conducting an inquiry after a complaint from the US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
JetBlue said it was also investigating the incident but a spokeswoman said: “We’re not clear exactly what happened.”
Mr Jarrar’s black cotton T-shirt bore the slogan in both Arabic and English.
He said he had cleared security at John F Kennedy airport for a flight back to his home in California when he was approached by two men who wanted to check his ID and boarding pass.
Mr Jarrar said he was told a number of passengers had complained about his T-shirt - apparently concerned at what the Arabic phrase meant - and asked him to remove it.
He refused, arguing that the slogan was not offensive and citing his constitutional rights to free expression.
Mr Jarrar later told a New York radio station: “I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen.
“But I’m shocked that they happened to me here, in the US.”
After a difficult exchange with airline staff, Mr Jarrar was persuaded to wear another T-shirt bought for him at the airport shop.
“We Will Not Be Silent” is a slogan adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq and other conflicts in the Middle East.
It is said to derive from the White Rose dissident group which opposed Nazi rule in Germany.
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