Man am I lucky to be a twerpy white guy (some days).

When I travel I opt out of the scanner every time, ask the pat-down guy what happens if he finds drugs on me, and sometimes refuse the search by asking them if I'm under arrest ('if not, am I free to go?').

If the TSA agent won't let me leave without a search, I demand they call the cops, who are obligated to let me leave (not enter the airport, though) because I haven't committed a crime.

One time in SFO they called the bomb squad because I tested positive for fertilizer (or something) and I still went through all this. I refused something called a 'private room crotch rub', which I regret a little.

When I talk to friends who are any shade of brown they tell me 'you should have had your ass handed to you'.

Outrageous and disturbing behavior on the part of Southwest Airlines and the security people. As is too often the case, the details of what transpired are lost, but this sort of incident shows how irrational fears are now driving institutional behavior.

The fact that some of us here mentioned "reasonable doubt" explains the shortcomings we currently have in depth of analysis beyond anything superficial. Our justifications sound like this - "while we murdered them in millions earlier, and now we murder them in thousands - we reserve the right to interrogate, disservice, and harass any of them on our soil should they speak the wrong way". If we are true Americans, we'd say this instead - "I believe in their right to liberty as much as ours. I will not be afraid because someone is speaking Arabic, or because someone's skin in brown, or because someone's face is bearded. I share the dangerous climate on our planet with my Muslim brothers, and I will take on the risks without stooping to bigotry. I will walk the straight path, and I will uphold the fundamentals of the very constitution our nation is built upon. We will fight terrorism together, for I understand it is a disease that has roots in no religion but in apathy."

Edit: omit "sickening". changed "you" to "we". Changed "three people" to "some of us"

How about if airlines instead offer a refund or voucher to scared white people who are afraid to share a flight with a brown person and decide to get off the plane?

They could solve this issue in three minutes: if you make an accusation the you have to miss the flight as well. If accusation also have a cost, people won;t make them for rather flimsy reasons.

What would the expectation be for the airline in this case? Ignore the report? Delay the flight for everyone else as they gather more information?

Outrage bait. I'd be careful with these kind of articles where the truth is always more or less obfuscated in order to generate clicks.

Pretty interesting story.

Not sure if anyone did anything wrong other than mishearing. A passenger thinks she hears someone sign off of a conversation with "martyr" and reports it. Given that information he's thrown off the plane which is also reasonable.

The guy who got kicked off also did nothing wrong. He was just talking to his uncle.

I suspect the same thing would happen to anyone regardless of race or nationality should the words Allah and martyr be uttered in close succession on a plane.

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I always wear my university branded apparel when travelling by air, hopefully, to avoid being stereotyped in wrong way based on the color of my skin.

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While I agree that this was really harsh and inhumane - you have to understand that this is a normal behavior of the security officers.

What if the guy was actually a terrorist? Would you praise that woman because she was the one alarming the police?

Instead of judging the woman, put yourself in her position - she panicked and reacted, if you had a child near you - would you have done the same?

Don't generalize too early - this is an isolated case.

Did the SA employees even have authority to remove him from the plane without the police?

"EDIT: For the people that forgot - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia"

What the fuck does the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia have to do with a Muslim student having his human rights violated? "I'm Serbian" you said, and you're bitching because ~1000 civilians were killed in a some bombings. Did you forget the genocide that the Serbians committed not 4 years prior? You don't EVER get to bitch about your people getting killed in that operation, especially considering the state organized oppression Yugoslavia was subjecting the people of Kosovo to. Go fuck yourself, and shove your pity mongering up your ass where it belongs.

> As is too often the case, the details of what transpired are lost

And yet you hold a strong opinion on the basis of nothing.

You self righteous naive children ought to have your irony detectors fixed.

So he's on a UC Berkeley debate team? From my experience, that's not as hateful an anti-American group as the San Francisco State debate team, or the Towson debate team, or the Binghampton or Bard debate team, but pretty close. I can see why the UC paper would think that makes the airlines look worse, but pro-genocide arguments like the following are quite normal and accepted at these kind of debate programs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-Cqkq6zWc