Traveling While Muslim: The Case of the Exploding Chocolate
▻https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/11/traveling-while-muslim-the-case-of-the-exploding-chocolate-219347
“... you have my Global Entry card. I’m still detained. Why am I still here, then?” At this point, facing my fourth screening since landing, I wasn’t about to let the supervisor off without answering me.
“What do you do for a living?” the supervisor asked.
I knew this question was coming. I detest this question. I know from experience that if I tell CBP up front that I’m a civil rights lawyer, they’ll let me go in a flash. As a general rule, I don’t—because it’s not fair. I shouldn’t have to be a lawyer to get equal treatment under the law. I travel internationally six to eight times per year, and it doesn’t surprise me to get stopped at least half of those times. Every time I mention I’m a lawyer, they release me immediately. Funny how that works—they know they’re illegally profiling me because of my name, skin color or religion.
As all this flashed through my mind I looked directly at the supervising CBP officer and said, “I’m a civil rights lawyer with expertise on racial and religious discrimination and profiling.”
Womp, womp.
He grew silent. I continued. “I’m asking for the last time. What law have I broken? How was I non-compliant?”
Rather than answer, he responded, “Well, I think everything checks out. You can go.”
