15
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
I was escorted off a flight due to racist
profiling. Britain must banish this bigotry
Last week, I was demonised and detained after other passengers’ baseless claims.
Pointing the finger at any woman in a headscarf is no way to tackle extremism.
By Maryam Dharas
D
o you speak English?” has got to be the one of the
most patronising questions you can be asked. I’m
only ever asked that because I wear hijab, as if being
a part of western culture and being Muslim are mutually
exclusive. Never mind the fact that I was born and raised in
London or that I’m going to a Russell Group university to
study English – it seems that I will always be stereotyped
and judged first by the scarf on my head.
It was also the first question I was asked as I was escorted off an
easyJet plane with my sister and brother at 6am last Wednesday
morning at Stansted airport. We’d passed security and boarded
the flight to Naples, but just as I was about to nod off we were
told there was a seating issue and that all three of us would
have to follow the air stewardess, who offered no explanation
of where we were going. At the top of the stairs leading down
to the tarmac there was a sight I’m not likely to forget in a hurry
– a mob of armed police and men in suits waiting for us to meet
them.
They informed us that a concerned passenger on our flight
claimedmysisterandIwerereadingIsismaterialonourphonesin
Arabic, with thewords “Praise be toGod” visible. We vehemently
denied all claims. Arabic? There was no Arabic anywhere on our
phones. Our family is of Indian origin – none of us even know
how to speak Arabic. They then asked why my sister’s passport
showed a stamp from Iraq. Ironically, she had gone there to raise
money for victims of Isis.
I showed them the timestamps of my WhatsApp conversations
to demonstrate how the only thing I had done on my phone
that morning was send a message tomy dad about how Jeremy
Corbyn’s policies compare to other leftwing leaders. Unless
being a lefty is a crime these days, I had committed no offence.
We had been humiliated, demonised and our holiday delayed
for nothing.
As Muslims we understand that extremism – coupled with
a good dose of fear-mongering – has made people wary, so
we take extra precautions at airports so as not to prompt any
unwarranted suspicion. I’d ordinarily read a prayer for a safe
journey but, being aware of how religion has sadly become
synonymous with terror in the eyes of many, I refrained from
doing so. My sister had wanted to bring Agatha Christie’s
Death
on the Nile
to read on the plane but I had scoffed imagining the
next day’s headline: “MUSLIM WOMAN SEEN BRANDISHING
MURDER MANUAL”. No chance, especially after I remembered
how a woman was recently detained and her reading material,
onartandculture inSyria,was treated like itwasan Isishandbook.
But despite all that consideration and care we still ended up
as targets. It’s become apparent that Muslims taking extra
care to avoid their behaviour being misconstrued will not stop
the bigotry that is rife in our society. Making clear that false
accusations are a crime is the first step in tackling the issue
of ordinary citizens being vilified, with education to combat
ignorance being a close second. If this had happened in any
other context, the couple who made the baseless claim against
us would be charged with an offence for wasting police time.
So why is this prejudice suddenly OK when it’s Muslims who are
the targets? Is the next step going to be that we’re treated as
second-class citizens, with the scarf on my head giving people
licence to tarnishmy name with impunity?
Islamophobia has now become racialised. It was my sister and
I who were labelled as Isis supporters, with my green-eyed
brother, who could pass as white, only being questioned by
association. There are Sikh men who have been targeted by
Islamophobic bigots in the same way Muslims are, simply for
covering their heads. The common thread tying the tales of
intolerance together seems to be that anyone who doesn’t
conform to a standardised appearance is made to feel like a
criminal. What happened to us and many others is not a mere
misunderstanding or mistake, it’s racism based on profiling.
Nobody is denying that Islamic extremism is a global issue
that needs to be tackled, but pointing an accusing finger at
any woman in a headscarf is no way of going about it. The
only way for society to progress is for the public to be aware
that Muslims are exactly the same as everyone else, and that
discrimination and suppressing someone’s right to practise
their religion without fear of persecution goes against the
core democratic values of this country.
25 August 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted with kind permission
from
The Guardian
. Please visit
for further information.
© 2017 Guardian News
and Media Limited
“It seems that I will always be
stereotyped and judged first by the
scarf on my head”
“Islamophobia has now become
racialised. It was my sister and I who
were labelled as Isis supporters, with
my green-eyed brother, who could
pass as white, only being questioned
by association”
"
