One man's trip to Atlanta

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>From: "Sean C. Mendis" <[email protected]>
>Newsgroups: git.general
>Subject: Profiling - a new fact of life?
>Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 09:14:30 +0000 (UTC)
>
>I offer the following personal experience to you as a reflection of
>whether the terrorists have already won the battle when they start denying
>us our freedom and civil rights.
>
>Many of you know what I look like, but some of you dont. Let me preface
>this with some information about myself. I am an olive complexioned male
>in mid-20s with a very neutral sounding name. I was worried from the
>outset that I would be profiled as suspicious, but I never thought it
>would be this bad.
>
>I was in New York on September 11, on a 9am flight from Newark heading to
>San Francisco. I had a chance to take the ill-fated UA93 which left at
>8am, but selected the 9am option instead. I watched in horror from the
>taxiways at Newark airport as the aircraft smashed into the World Trade
>Center before my eyes. I spent the rest of the day volunteering at a
>triage center in Newark, before heading back to my hotel in Manhattan. The
>New York airports were closed through Friday, so I rebooked myself to fly
>back to Atlanta on Saturday.
>
>Saturday morning I received a call bright and early from Delta telling me
>that my 1pm flight to Atlanta had been cancelled. The only flight
>operating to Atlanta from the NYC area that day would be an 830pm flight
>from JFK.
>
>I headed to the Delta terminal and attempted to get into the building.
>Fortunately, I had the foresight to visit their City Ticket Office earlier
>that morning and collect an E-ticket itinerary, so I breezed through the
>first level of door checks and metal detectors pretty easily. I was
>heading over to the domestic check-in lines which had about 200 people
>patiently waiting, when I spotted a Medallion check-in line with only a
>handful of folks. I turned towards that and immediately felt a hand
>gripping my arm. A Border Patrol agent had spotted me turn away from the
>main check-in lines and was eyeing me very suspiciously. "Where do you
>think you are going?". "To check-in". "The line starts over there". "Yes,
>but the Medallion line is over there". "What's wrong with this line?".
>"Nothing, its much longer though, so I'd rather use the other one". "Hey,
>don't get an attitude with me. Lets see some ID." I presented my passport,
>E-Ticket receipt and Medallion card for scrutiny. He examined them for a
>minute and finally said "Ok, but you need to check-in at this line". "No,
>I'm a Medallion member and I'm entitled to priority check-in unless you
>can give me a reason why I can't use it". At this time, a Delta redcoat
>standing nearby came over and examined my documents. He pointedly looked
>at the Border Patrol agent and told me to go ahead and use the Medallion
>line. The Border Patrol agent just shrugged and began looking for someone
>else else to pick on.
>
>Check-in was smooth enough and I was given an upgraded seat 12A in
>Business Class. All payphones in the airport had been turned off for some
>reason and it was impossible to communicate with the outside world. Even
>the Crown Room Clubs were closed. Ah well, I'll survive. I headed off to
>the bar for a beer, but found it packed. I finally found myself some
>counter space and sipped on a Sam Adams while chatting with a guy from
>Birmingham who was trying to head out via Paris.
>
>Headed out to my gate around 7pm for the 830pm departure. As I walked down
>the concourse, I was stopped by a Delta employee who asked to see my
>ticket and ID. I presented those for his perusal and was quickly approved
>with a "Thank you for choosing Delta". That's class. Some people have it,
>and some people don't.
>
>As we waited in the gate area, I began chatting with some Delta pilots who
>were also trying to get down to Atlanta. As we chatted, I saw a couple of
>Border Patrol Agents and PANYNJ police walk up to the gate accompanied by
>a K9 Unit. They spoke among themselves for a while and then began to
>approach me. Suddenly one of them began shouting "Everyone out of the gate
>area, NOW!". I picked up my bag and began to walk away, but two of them
>grabbed me by each arm and said "Not you. Everyone else." I was made to
>remove my jacket and place it on the floor and then one them kicked over
>my carry-on bag and made the dog sniff it over. "What the hell is going
>on? What did I do?". "Don't give me an attitude buddy, or else you will
>regret it?". "Why am I being singled out for this?". "Because someone said
>you were a suspicious person". "Oh, ok. Can you say profiling?". "Hey hey,
>I won't say this again. Watch your mouth. Lets see some ID". I provided
>the required documentation. "Where are you going to today?". "Atlanta".
>"Why Atlanta?". "Thats where I live". "So why are you going there?".
>"Because I want to go home." This roundabout questioning continued for a
>minute or two while the dog sniffed all over my jacket and bag.
>
>Eventually, even the dog got bored of this and began wandering away, so
>the other passengers were allowed back into the gate area, taking care to
>keep away from the corner I was being questioned in. My bag still lay on
>its side in the middle of the floor, but when I tried to go get it, I was
>told to "Leave it there for now". By now I was furious and demanded to
>know what exactly I was doing that made so suspicious "apart from existing
>with my skin color?". "Well, one of the Delta employees saw you on camera
>and called you in". "Saw me doing what? Waiting for a flight?". "Some
>people just aren't comfortable with that". "With me waiting for a
>flight?". "Yeah, I guess not". "So what do you want me to do to stop being
>suspicious?". "Well, we could put you in handcuffs for a while. That might
>give them some peace of mind". "WHAT? Do you have probable cause for
>this?". "I don't need probable cause". "Ok, do you have reasonable
>suspicion then?". "You are acting all nervous now, thats suspicious in my
>book". Enough was enough, and I asked him if I was free to go. He shrugged
>and said "sure, have a nice flight".
>
>Of course, by now everyone was keeping well away from me and whispering to
>each other behind my back. So much for innocent until presumed guilty. The
>agents made an announcement that we were one pilot short and that the
>pilot would be coming in from Atlanta on a flight arriving at 1032pm, so
>our departure was now pushed back to 1130pm. A few Border Patrol and
>Customs agents came over and chatted with me as I waited.
>
>Finally, around 1130pm, boarding began on the MD11. I decided to wait till
>the end of the boarding process before heading on board. As I was walking
>down the jetway, I saw Mike, one of the Customs agents we had been talking
>to, stopping *random* passengers for ID checks. I didn't wait to be
>stopped but instead just walked right up to him and handed it over. He
>grinned and said "I'm sorry its gotta be this way. Have a good flight." As
>I continued down the jetway, an elderly black gentleman tapped me on the
>shoulder and said, "God bless you son, but for the first time that I can
>remember, the black people are not a suspect". I was strangely touched by
>what he said.
>
>As I walked to my seat 12A, there was an off-duty Flight Attendant seated
>in 12B. When I put my stuff into 12A, she abrupbtly stood up and took a
>seat over on the other side of the cabin. Great. Welcome aboard to you
>too. I looked out of the window across a deserted tarmac and thought back
>to the last time I had boarded a plane at 840am on Tuesday at Newark. I
>had looked out my window at that time too and seen two towers standing
>down by Battery Park. There was no pre-takeoff drink service and we sat at
>the gate for another hour before we were cleared to push back. There were
>41 people in Business Class today, of which I was the only revenue
>passenger. There were also 30 off-duty/deadheading flight attendants, 8
>pilots and 2 retired Delta employees.
>
>We taxied out slowly as I marvelled at how absolutely deserted JFK was.
>The only other surface traffic was the Cathay Pacific 747 heading for
>Vancouver and Hong Kong, which took off right ahead of us. We rolled onto
>the runway and the captain gave us full throttle before releasing the
>brakes. The PW4000 engines roared as we hurtled down the runway. Then we
>climbed out, and the city came into view, with a million lights shining
>brightly. But down at the southern end of Manhattan, there was a different
>kind of light and a big huge void where two of the brightest lights had
>once shone.
>
>At that moment, I began to cry. I'm sure many others on board cried too.
>We cried not out of sadness or out of joy, but we just cried to let it all
>out. We cried for the city that we remembered before Tuesday and we cried
>for the city that we now knew. We cried for the loss of innocence that the
>country had suffered. We cried for the victims and the families and the
>rescue workers working thousands of feet below us. But most of all we
>cried because we were back in the air and no matter how hard they knocked
>us down, we were back up again.
>
>We flew south on a cloudless night with a carpet of lights twinkling below
>us. As we flew over Virginia, an F16 took position off our left wing for a
>minute and escorted us in silence. I smiled for the first time since
>Tuesday. I sipped on a Vodka and watched as Richmond became Raleigh became
>Charlotte became Atlanta and finally we touched down just before 3am.
>Everyone applauded, and my smile grew wider. I walked throught the
>deserted airport to the cab stand in silence. My cab driver was a muslim
>from Ghana who got us quickly on the road and then asked "So where were
>you stuck?". "New York", I replied. A moment of silence, followed by "God
>bless you brother. Welcome home".
>
>
>--
>SEAN MENDIS
>Email: [email protected]