American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Charges TSA Official and JetBlue With Racial Profiling

ACLU Charges TSA Official and JetBlue With Racial Profiling

YOUTUBE: ACLU Client Raed Jarrar Sues Jetblue and TSA Officer

(Logo on Jarrar's t-shirt.)

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> YouTube: ACLU Client Raed Jarrar Sues JetBlue and TSA Officer
> T-Shirt: "We Will Not Be Silent"
> Complaint - Jarrar v. Harris, et al. (8/9/2007)
> ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger (8/9/2007)
> Jarrar's Blog: Raed-in-the-Middle (off-site)
> Jarrar on Democracy Now! (off-site)
> Department of Transportation Completes Investigation of Jet Blue

JetBlue and a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official, identified as "Inspector Harris," would not let Raed Jarrar board his flight at John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his t-shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic script. Harris told Jarrar that it is impermissible to wear an Arabic shirt to an airport and equated it to a "person wearing a t-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber.'" The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the TSA official and JetBlue Airways.

"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 with the ACLU's Racial Justice Program. "Racial profiling is illegal and ineffective and has no place in a democratic society."

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