When the story of some American soldiers sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison broke in the spring of 2004, there was justifiable outcry around the world, including in the United States. Photos of prisoners in forced nudity before each other elicited disgust and shame.
Fast forward six years and something similar is happening in airports across the United States in the name of national security: the use of body scanners and invasive strip searches in front of other passengers.
The controversial scanners have sparked an outcry in American airports, particularly when it was discovered that the images could be saved and downloaded (which the TSA had once reassured they couldn’t be). In fact, 35,000 images from the scanners were saved and leaked online, and that was just from one courthouse (http://gizmodo.com/5690749/these-are-the-first-100-leaked-body-scans).
Though the scanners are, technically, optional, opting out of them and facing the alternative is, to a growing number of travelers, just as invasive and ineffective.
A new campaign is urging Americans to opt out of flying for the Thanksgiving holiday, specifically on November 24. The “We Won’t Fly” campaign urges supporters to “defeat the scanners and gropers” and advises travelers to opt out of these procedures until the Transportation and Security Agency drops the “porno scanners”.
Muslims, the most likely candidates to be profiled nowadays, should not only support this campaign against our health and privacy, but they must be at its forefront.
Based on the “We Won’t Fly” campaign, consider taking these steps as you travel during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday:
1. Refuse to fly
Consider taking a train, bus, or car to your destination to avoid being targeted for body scanning or body searches.
2. If you have to fly….
Opt out of the scanners and if you are coerced into doing so, report the incident immediately. The We Won’t Fly Campaign offers a series of steps to take on the right sidebar of its homepage, including information about where to complain.
Also, if you are called aside for a strip search, request that this be done in privacy, in a separate room, preferably by a TSA employee of the same gender.
3. Support HR 6416, the American Traveler Dignity Act
This was introduced by Texas Congressman Ron Paul in November 2010 to restore dignity to American travelers and protection from invasive procedures and searches by the TSA. Contact your Congressman or Congresswoman to support this legislation.
4. Encourage your local Muslim community to join the “We Won’t Fly” Campaign
The websiteoffers several ways to support this campaign. Do your part to get your local Muslim community involved. Distribute fliers at the Masjid, encourage young Muslims to text and tweet their friends about it, as well as “like” it and join it on Facebook.
The more momentum that will be built, the more likely it will be that these invasive procedures will be challenged and eventually dropped insha Allah (God willing).
In November 2010, barely a week before the new TSA procedures began ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, commissioners of Chicago’s Cook County agreed to a $55 million dollar settlement in a lawsuit against the Cook County Jail for illegal strip-searches. According to complaint, between 2004 and 2009, guards were accused of strip-searching male prisoners as a form of punishment and as a way to sexually humiliate them. The lawsuit also claimed the searchers were done without probable cause. In 2009, a federal jury decided the strip-searches were unconstitutional.
If such wrongdoing can be challenged in our jails, then the majority of Americans who are innocent of any crime have even more reason to stand up against the TSA’s latest procedures.
