Flying While Black

Flying While Black
If you want to screen Muslims as potential terrorists, you'll have to target blacks.

Slate.com
By William Saletan

Posted Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, at 8:13
AM ET

Two months ago, I criticized Republican
presidential candidate Herman Cain for
prejudging Muslims the way racists
prejudge blacks. Cain argued that
Muslims should be subjected to special
loyalty tests or barred from cabinet
positions. "This nation is under attack
constantly by people who want to kill all
of us," he told CNN's John King. "I am
going to take extra precautions if a
Muslim person who is competent wants
to work in my administration." When
Glenn Beck asked Cain whether Catholics
or Mormons should face the same loyalty
test as Muslims, Cain said no, "because
there is a greater dangerous part of the
Muslim faith than there is in these other
religions."

Last month, after going to Tennessee to
support bigots who opposed construction
of a mosque, Cain apologized for "any
comments that may have betrayed my
commitment to the U.S. Constitution and
the freedom of religion guaranteed by it."
He said of peaceful Muslims, "In my own
life as a black youth growing up in the
segregated South, I understand their
frustration with stereotypes."

For this apology, Cain has been
denounced by Islamophobes on the right.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano took similar abuse for
rejecting religious profiling. In June, a
questioner told Napolitano: "In most of
the cases since 9/11 that we've made
arrests, it wouldn't be profiling to
discover that most of the suspects or the
convicted parties have been men,
typically under 30 or under 35, often
Muslim. … Why wouldn't the department
focus more of its attention on that
category of individual who's turned up
most often as the suspect?" Napolitano
replied that behavioral profiling was
more accurate than profiling by sex, age,
or religion. In response, several
conservative Web sites, including Beck's,
accused her of defying "logic" and "
common sense."

The logic of Muslim profiling is simple.
First, Muslims are more likely than non-
Muslims to plan or commit acts of terror
against the United States. Second,
Muslims are more likely than non-
Muslims to sympathize with al-Qaida or
believe that suicide bombing can be
justified. Previous polling by the Pew
Research Center supports this claim. But
a new survey report from Pew adds a
twist to the data: Statistically, the group
most deserving of scrutiny under this
rationale isn't Muslims. It's black
Muslims.

The survey report, released yesterday,
presents a table (on page 5) breaking
down the data by race. One question
asks: "How much support for extremism,
if any, is there among Muslims living in
the U.S.?" Among all U.S. Muslims, 21
percent say there's a great deal or a fair
amount of support. Among native-born
U.S. Muslims, the number is 32 percent.
Among black native-born Muslims, it's 40
percent.

Another question asks: "Do you have a
favorable or unfavorable opinion of al-
Qaida?" Among all U.S. Muslims, 5
percent report a favorable view. Among
native-born U.S. Muslims, the number is
10 percent. Among black native-born
Muslims, it's 11 percent.

A third question asks: "Some people
think that suicide bombing and other
forms of violence against civilian targets
are justified in order to defend Islam
from its enemies. Other people believe
that, no matter what the reason, this k
ind of violence is never justified. Do you
personally feel that this kind of violence
is often justified to defend Islam,

sometimes justified, rarely justified, or
never justified?" Among all U.S. Muslims,
8 percent say suicide bombing is often or
sometimes justified. Among native-born
U.S. Muslims, the number is 11 percent.
Among black native-born Muslims, it's 16
percent.

If you think the way Cain did—that we
should take "extra precautions" with
certain groups because the percentage of
people in those groups who might want
to kill us is bigger than it is in other
groups—then Pew's findings suggest
scrutiny of Muslims isn't enough. You
need to zero in on black Muslims. Look at
the two guys who have been caught
trying to blow up planes to the U.S. since
9/11: shoe bomber Richard Reid and
accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab. Not to mention
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the
guy who shot up the military recruiting
center in Arkansas.

I don't see presidential candidates
advocating this kind of heightened
scrutiny. Evidently, racial profiling of
blacks is out of fashion. It's been
replaced by discrimination against
Muslims, ostensibly justified by 9/11 and
the threat of Islamic terrorism. But if
group data warrant extra screening of
Muslims, they also warrant extra
screening, in particular, of blacks. Or they
warrant neither. Logically, those are your
options.

SOURCE: http://www.slate.com/id/2302812/