Financial compensation for discrimination against Muslim-Americans
The June 1, 2006 New York Times has an article called Terror Fears Hampers U.S. Muslims' Travel that describes how innocent Muslim-Americans are being discriminated against at border crossings and airports. They are being unfairly handcuffed by law enforcement officers and denied airline tickets by ticket agents. The article says that the treatment of Muslim-Americans is much worse than that experienced by traveling non-Muslim-Americans since 9/11 and that it has made many Muslim-Americans feel like "second-class citizens."
A solution to these discriminatory acts might be automatic financial compensation for each unfounded act of discrimination. Compensation should begin at $1,000 per incident and go up into the millions depending on the severity of the act. This way, everyone shares the pain.
It's possible that these acts are being deliberately done or deliberately being allowed to occur because they create a climate of fear in the Muslim-American community. The thinking being that this climate would serve as a deterrent to any potential Muslim or Muslim-American terrorist or sympathizer. But why should innocent Muslim-Americans have to suffer in order to accomplish this deterrence? *
Monetary compensation would probably lessen this climate of fear and therefore, the deterrence factor, if this is what's happening. But I don't believe that Muslim-Americans should be abused at all in this manner and having a counterbalancing compensation system in place would make it less likely to occur. And at the very least, it may supply some solace to our fellow Muslim-Americans for their unwarranted suffering.
* A culture of fear might also induce some to do things, like become an operative for law enforcement, that they might not otherwise be inclined to do.
update: june 6, 2006, 10:31 pm
unlink dead link: june 16, 2006, 7:28 pm (new york)
A solution to these discriminatory acts might be automatic financial compensation for each unfounded act of discrimination. Compensation should begin at $1,000 per incident and go up into the millions depending on the severity of the act. This way, everyone shares the pain.
It's possible that these acts are being deliberately done or deliberately being allowed to occur because they create a climate of fear in the Muslim-American community. The thinking being that this climate would serve as a deterrent to any potential Muslim or Muslim-American terrorist or sympathizer. But why should innocent Muslim-Americans have to suffer in order to accomplish this deterrence? *
Monetary compensation would probably lessen this climate of fear and therefore, the deterrence factor, if this is what's happening. But I don't believe that Muslim-Americans should be abused at all in this manner and having a counterbalancing compensation system in place would make it less likely to occur. And at the very least, it may supply some solace to our fellow Muslim-Americans for their unwarranted suffering.
* A culture of fear might also induce some to do things, like become an operative for law enforcement, that they might not otherwise be inclined to do.
update: june 6, 2006, 10:31 pm
unlink dead link: june 16, 2006, 7:28 pm (new york)
posted by eric at 2:19 PM
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