Children Facing Discrimination at the Airport – WHY?

How sad that children with names that are the same as people on the no-fly list have been put through extra screening. All because they share a name with someone the government considers dangerous. Today, dangerous refers to terrorists, the vast majority of whom are Muslim.

Canadians Sulemaan and his wife, Khadija Cajee, took to social media to express their frustrations over their repeated ordeal at airports. Their six-year-old son’s name, Syed Adam Ahmed, is on a list of “high-profile” travelers deemed potential security risks so he is put through extra screening. Annoying. Embarrassing. And it does seem odd to take the time to extra-screen a six-year-old.

Why is this happening?

Because terrorists, the vast majority being Muslims, have forced the rest of us to give up more of our liberties, our freedoms and our rights so that we, and that includes you, can be safe.

Have these parents and the parents of other children on the no-fly list, who are so upset about the treatment of their children, stood up against Islamic terror? Have they exerted as much energy fighting against Muslim terrorism as they did to fight the no-fly list? Have they contacted the media to come out to anti-Muslim terror events and protests? Are they members of the Muslim Reform Movement? You want me and others to feel sorry for your inconvenience?

Shall I tell you about my travel nightmares since the day Muslims took planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and tried to hit the White House? The day that I knew my grandchildren would never experience care-free travel? Like getting dressed for the day and not having to get undressed at the airport. They will never experience the real freedom we all had taken for granted on the day before September 11, 2001.

I was on a train a few days after 9/11, on my way to New York. A nightmare. Police and security forces went through the entire train at the border to check each and every one of us. My flights to America? After going through security and finally on my way to the plane, I was removed just before entering the bridge to the plane for a random inspection. Pulled out of line. Everyone watching. Then there was the time I was pulled by American Border Security into an empty room and told to stand still. And not talk. And I stood. Waiting. Looking at my watch. I had a plane to catch to visit my grandchildren. I spoke up and got yelled at. Now, I have anxiety. I have had fights at the American airports because I will not go through their body scanners. I then get treated like a second-class citizen because they now have to do a physical pat down.

Let me tell you about the number of times I was the lucky one – the “Random One” chosen for extra security checks. We don’t want to “profile” anyone, so we’ll just check random people – no particular reason, just cuz. Pat downs-extra, Luggage inspection-extra. And if that is not enough, after going through all that to get on the plane from America to Canada, I watched in the Canada customs area as a woman covered from head to toe entered the country without anyone looking at her face. I guess they didn’t want to embarrass her.

My name does not show up on a list.

I am a grandmother. Why is this happening to me? Because Muslims took planes and terrorized the free world. And terror today almost all over the world comes from Muslims, yet the rest of us, Muslim and non-Muslim, suffer. All of us.

So to the families, I am sorry for your children. Did you tell them why this is happening? Did you explain the reason for all this extra security, this encroachment on our God-given freedoms? Have you stood up like Bassem Eid, Raheel Raza and Tahir Gora fighting against this rendition of Islam? Are you spending as much time fighting radical Islam as practiced by far too many in this world – from Saudi Arabia to Iran; Sunni against Shiite – fighting against the rise of the Caliphate as you are berating CANADA over your “treatment”? Canada, the country that gives you the freedom to berate Canadians and the government. Are you standing up in your mosques and demanding that the Imams teach and preach that Muslims are no better than Jews or Christians, atheists or gays? Are you demanding that the Imams in all Canadian mosques teach that women are equal in this country and at no time should Muslim women in Canada wear a Niqab or Burka because they represent oppression and submission of women?  Are you demanding that Islam in Canada teaches that women are not property?

If you are not protesting against Islamic practices that encourage terrorism, attacking Jews, hanging gays, stoning women, jailing journalists, teaching values that are anathema to our ethical foundation and ethical monotheism, then don’t come crying to me about your delays or embarrassment at the airport.