On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Balu Raman <[email protected]> wrote: > On 4/16/09, Kevin Thorley <[email protected]> wrote: > >> A little common sense goes a long way :) >> > Meaning, forgetting that we were living under George Bush's regime :-) > My son and this girl lived in the same house, in MIT, and she was a > year junior to my son. The girl is/was innocent and considering she > was only 17 or 18 they went overboard. We even had breakfast together, > I think, it was the weekend before the incident and she was showing > off. Remember she was wearing the shirt to show off at the career day, > and she quickly took a detour to the airport to pick up her friend. > > My last name is Raman, and sounds very similar to Rahman a muslim name > and I can't tell you how many times I have been harassed at the > airports, even in Burlington. A little common sense, as per some > folks, i should change my name :-)
I don't believe there is any justification for harassment of people based on name, skin color, culture, religion, etc. I do believe that showing up at an airport wearing an electronic circuit board with flashing lights and a battery on your shirt at a time when there is a high sensitivity to anything out of the ordinary at airports is not the brightest idea. I am sure this girl is quite intelligent, a great person, and probably doesn't do things like this on a regular basis. But in this instance, it was a boneheaded decision, circumstances (career fair, friend arriving at airport, etc) aside. Please don't mistake me for someone who *likes* the extra security and distrust that has been in place since 9/11. I am a private pilot and have had plenty of inconveniences in the name of "enhanced security". I regularly flew out of Bedford, MA (Hanscom AFB) back in 2002-2005. Just getting out onto the tarmac was frustrating sometimes. Kevin
