Racial Profiling in Security Systems

In North America, racial profiling is commonly presented by numerous security systems. Perceiving this issue through an anthropological, sociological, and psychological lens will determine if this act is justifiable.

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Racial Profiling in Airports

There have been numerous stories of racial profiling in the Muslim community, especially since the 9/11 attacks, but the victims of racial profiling question if security measures or “random searches” in airports are too discriminatory to be concluded as a coincidence. 

Azeem Khan is one of the many victims of airport profiling, and shares his travel experience on the Huffington Post. Khan mentions every time he goes to or from the airport, he is “randomly searched,” especially because he is brown and has a Muslim name. Khan stands up for himself, as well as the rest of the Muslim community when he fights for equal rights to any other American citizen (like himself), arguing that racial profiling is in no level appropriate, but rather, highly offensive.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-khan/racial-profiling-muslim_b_3303582.html 

CNN reports another incident where a Muslim woman was strip-searched at Chicago’s OHare airport.  Samar Kaukab, a 22-year-old Ohio State University student, reported that an Illinois National Guardsman and three security personnel subjected her to a degrading, unnecessary and illegal search. This case resulted in filing for the violation of her civil rights and raising constitutional issues. Kaukab was apparently asked to take off her hijab, which was a violation of her freedom of religious expression, and singling her out the line was a violation of the equal protection clause. Samar Kaukab concludes that “the escalating nature of the search was completely unjustified” and mentioned that it was also, “embarrassing, intrusive and humiliating.” https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2002/01/chic-j21.html 

As a matter of fact, CAIR - Council on American-Islamic Relations have recorded that 63% of total discriminatory cases were triggered by a Muslim name, or an individual’s ethnicity or religion. According to CAIR, In 2008, 2,728 Muslim American civil rights complaints were filed.