After passing through customs, I regretted not talking to the many customs workers in bullet-proof vests, shepherding us through the process. I wondered if the vests were new for them. I wondered what questions I could have asked them to feel into the humanity with which they are doing their job. So much of my sense of hope (and imagination for organizing) rests in the possibility that enough good people who hold jobs that grant them power will resist orders to act in inhumane ways. Targeting and discriminating against people because of their color or religion is not thoughtful and diligent security. It is racist and discriminatory. It is the foundation of Hitler’s regime and increasingly Trump’s regime. If that were the only way for us to insure safety for the people of this country, then there would also be a blanket discrimination against white, Christian men as there are numerous accounts of extreme acts of violence and mass shootings from white, Christian men in this country.
“It was the first time Ali Jr. and his mother have ever been asked if they’re Muslim when re-entering the United States, he said.” – Source: Muhammad Ali’s Son Detained at Airport and Was Asked ‘Are you Muslim?’