IT'S called profiling. And it’s happening. Again.
There are many types of profiling but in this particular case, it’s profiling based on race or ethnicity. Specific individuals or groups are being targeted based on their appearance because particular characteristics or behaviors are attributed to their perceived race or ethnicity.
It’s what happened during 9/11 when people shuddered, looked away, felt uncomfortable, became jittery when someone who looked Middle Eastern boarded the plane or worse, sat beside you.
It defied logic. We knew it was wrong to make assumptions about people based on their appearance but because of widespread fear, many people became irrational. I was one of them.
I didn’t mean to be racist. But I became racist, anyway. I became extremely paranoid when someone who looked vaguely Middle Eastern boarded my plane. And when they sat beside me, you can’t imagine how religious I became.
I was doing a lot of flying at this time because I lived abroad and came home often. I knew it was wrong—to assume certain things about certain people. But I did it anyway. Because I was afraid. And fear makes you lose your mind.
But I got my comeuppance. I also became a victim of irrationality.
In the midst of the Sars outbreak in 2003, I left China, came home and then decided to take a vacation. I’m not sure why I picked this time to travel but it might have been my inability to resist a good deal.
People were scared of Sars so no one was travelling. Using my mileage, it was a breeze for me to redeem two round-trip business class tickets to the United States.
Upon arrival at JFK, there wasn’t much brouhaha about Sars. Riding the airport shuttle was another matter, though. Some Caucasian passengers weren’t too happy to see Asians on the shuttle.
Well, it’s happening again.
When you hear Mandarin or Korean while walking around the mall these days, you instinctively put a distance between yourself and those speaking foreign tongues. And if and when they make even the slightest sound of a near-cough, you quicken your steps and increase the distance.
I was 21 and standing alone at center city, Philadelphia, waiting for the free tram ride to the Museum of Art when out of nowhere, an African American man suddenly comes up to me and in a gruff voice asks if I am going to the museum.
I panic, quickly say no and turn away. Five minutes later, I see the tram pull up. As I walk towards the tram, I see the African American man who had approached me earlier behind the wheel. He is the tram driver, after all.
I am mortified. I board the bus, head down. It’s bad. It’s sad. But it happens. Fear clouds the mind. Panic shuts it down completely. It’s called profiling.