TORONTO, 9 February —With the imminent start of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the issue of security is very much on people's minds in light of recent events.
On the agenda is the implementation of racial profiling and whether it would enhance the Games, or simply infringe on the dignity of Arab men while flying in the face of any idea that all men have the same rights.
Granted, all evidence indicates that those involved in the plane crashes of September 11th were Arabs, and logic dictates that, if another attack were to occur, the perpetrators would probably be of the same origin.
However, to single out middle-aged men of Arab descent would oppose the very civil liberties for which the United States prides itself as a champion, and here in lies the problem. My personal opinion is that people should not be looked at differently based on appearance, and that racial profiling can only serve to create disunity among Americans, while doing irreparable damage to my belief in the Constitution. The popular response to this idea is that people should be willing to sacrifice some rights in order to guarantee the safety of the nation in a time of war, and once the 'evil-doers' are eradicated, all will return to normal. This, of course, makes it extremely difficult for me to continue to defend my position against such compelling logic, since the rights of men do not fit into the equation.
Despite this, there are some very good reasons that racial profiling is a bad idea, not just because of the violation and humiliation that they may cause, but simply because it would not work, and it may compromise security even further.
America is a world leader when it comes to producing, for lack of a better word, 'kooks', and we have seen numerous examples of copycat behaviour when it comes to high profile crimes. School shootings, the reports that a copycat 'anthrax attacker' has emerged and the kamikaze teenager in Tampa serve to show that a prevalent 'monkey see, monkey do' mentality among Americans means that nobody can be ruled out when it comes to terrorism. To focus on Arab men would leave holes in security to let criminals of other backgrounds run undetected.
Another possibility, which, while being hypothetical, is also extremely plausible, is that the harassment of Arabs could simply provoke terrorist organisations into using agents of other ethnicities. It is widely recognized that terrorists have links in African nations (the embassy bombings of a few years ago and the public expectation that the front in the war against terrorism will move to Somalia validate this sentiment) and a great number of residents and citizens of Arab nations are of African descent, and I find it very likely that, if any more attacks are planned, the oppression of Arabs may simply cause the conspirators to send black men to enact them. Needless to say, the situation this would put the United States in would be excruciating at best. While the Arab-American population is relatively small and unlikely to create a major disturbance, the large African American population would not for one second put up with the profiling of black men, particularly because of America's history with regards to the rights of black people. Of course, to then not profile black men after doing so with Arabs would present a double standard that any spin machine would find challenging.
Finally, the alienation that would result from 'special treatment' of individuals from the Arab world could ultimately threaten peace, especially because the Olympics are global in nature, and the world will, quite literally, be in Salt Lake City. At a time where the American 'coalition' is apparently paramount to maintaining peace, to slap Arabs in the face in this manner on a global stage can hardly foster favourable relationships.
Thankfully, much of the coverage on the matter has been encouraging in that it appears that racial profiling has no place in the Olympics, but reactions from the public have been a little disheartening, from those who ask to have Arabs taken off planes to those who respond on TV call-in shows. I just hope that those who feel that this is the way to maintain peace and security realize that racial profiling is not only unjust, but also extremely dangerous.
