I can’t believe I almost missed this post. I didn’t find out about it till I was surfing the Democracy Now! site. Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar from Raed in the Middle had an out of this world experience when he was not allowed on board a flight at JFK for wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script on it. The story is just simply bizzare and worth a read. If you feel so inclined to drop JetBlue a line after reading it, you can send a message here.
Here’s an excerpt:
“How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn’t this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?” so inspector Harris answered “you can’t wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads “I am a robber” and going to a bank”. I said “but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says “we will not be silent”.
Well! This is outrageous! But you know something … I stopped being surprised by people’s stupidity and ignorance – it seems the trademark these days!
Personally, I would not have changed my t-shirt …but then again, I can’t really blame him for doing so!
this is ironcially funny, though…yesterday I was wearing a t-shirt that reads: Property of Palestine 1948 Right of Return. (http://www.t-shirtat.com/tshirtphotos/propertyofpalistinebw(1).gif) I was, in my mind, sketching out my trip to Palestine this coming May…and I thought to myself what type of reaction would I get from the israeli side of the Alanby bridge?!
my brother was visitng so I asked him what he thinks the reaction would be if…he said: well, they’ll tell you you have every right to return to where ever the hell you came from…
I asked one of my sisters…she said, they wont say anything! But then again, this is coming from the sister who always wore handalla t-shirts and was held at check-points for over 8 hours almost every time she attempted to travel outside Ramallah 😀
anyway,
I am very curious to know! would they really deny my entry because of such shirt?!
iman, israel as you know denies palestinians entry on much much much less than a tshirt
True, you’re absolutely right … But I am curious to try!
no?
Iman if you’re so inclined to waste several hours or days of your life, yeah why not.
Idiots. No other word best describes them.
Interesting. I have several shirts with Arabic on it. One says, in Arabic “I am not a terrorist” another just says “Palestine” one says “Allahu Akbar”.
I have never had any issues wearing these shirts, although Arabs will always come ask me “do you know what that says”.
My Arab friends have told me I get a pass on things like this because I am white. Maybe they have a point.
I dunno… “we will not be silent” sounds kinda uppity to me… better safe than sorry….
Gotta protect us ‘Mericuns from the brown people you know. 😛
in all honesty, would this be a ‘stupid’ move on my part? I wholeheartedly don’t believe so! I’m very well aware of the consequences yet I am still curious… and there is hope to democracy! – what israel claims itself to be!
I remember before I left Chicago to Palestine a few years ago,(I travelled through Gen Gurion airport that year) I had started reading Soul in Exile by Fawaz Turki…I wanted to take it with me to finish on the plane … i had it set next to my passport and ticket …my brother took it in the name of smooth travel and refused to give it back! so much for smooth travelling, I had to spend more than 5 hours at Ben Gurion answering questions of one soldier to another before I was able to pass!
so yeah…I have my outfit picked out already! so you know what?! I’ll keep you posted! 😀