WAMM Activist Racially Profiled at Protest

by Ellen A. Abbott, WAMM

My foster daughter, Karen, is beautiful. She is five feet tall, very petite, looks eighteen years old (although she is 27), and has gorgeous black hair. Her skin is dark, like a deep summer tan. Karen has been participating occasionally in the ongoing Wednesday morning vigil at the headquarters of defense contractor Alliant Techsystems. Prior to September 11, she was just part of the group -- one of many exercising the right of free speech. All that changed at a vigil in September.

During the protest a security guard picked her out of the group, approached her, and challenged her with the question, "Are you an American citizen?" Karen has lived in the United States for 26 years. She was born in Iran and is probably Persian. Although taken aback, she answered, "Yes, as a matter of fact I am a U.S. citizen. Why do you ask?" The security guard, apparently ignoring her statement of citizenship, snarled something like, "The police are coming and if you aren't a citizen you can get in a lot more trouble than other people if you do something illegal." He turned around and walked over to the two Hopkins police officers who had arrived at the protest and had a discussion with them that was, according to Karen, very obviously about her.

Although Karen told me that she wasn't really upset with what happened, it seemed to me otherwise. She had run home from Alliant and breathlessly called me to ask if I would be able to bail her out of jail if she were arrested, then told me what had happened. I was furious with the security guard. How dare he target my daughter! I was angry but also felt very sad for Karen and for my country.

Karen's incident is minor compared to some other reported incidents of harassment in the days following September 11: verbal assaults, store windows being broken, scarves being pulled off the heads of Muslim women. I am saddened and angry that Karen and an ever-growing number of individuals have to endure racial targeting, even in Minnesota where "Minnesota nice" is supposed to be the prevailing cultural norm. We must all step forward and call the terrorists on their actions -- and I am not talking about the terrorists in Afghanistan. I am talking about the Minnesotans who believe they have the right to terrorize other people based solely upon their looks.