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American Morning
Muslim Teenager Says She Was Forced to Remove Head Scarf After Passing Through Security at BWI
Aired January 09, 2002 - 07:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another charge of racial profiling -- or was it? Was it ethnic profiling or was it standard airport security procedure?
A Muslim teenager says she was surrounded by soldiers and forced to remove her head scarf after passing through security at the Baltimore-Washington Airport. Now she wants an apology from both Delta and Northwest Airlines.
Seventeen-year-old Enaas Sarsour is with us this morning from Washington, along with Hodan Hassan from the Council on American- Islamic Relations. It's nice to have both of you with us. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
Let me begin with you, Enaas, if you would. Explain to me the significance of the head scarf and what it means if you're asked to remove it in public.
ENAAS SARSOUR, SEARCHED PASSENGER: Well, it's supposed to be a, to protect us from anything else and it's supposed to save your beauty. And nobody else is supposed to see your hair but your husband until you get married. And it's really humiliating that you had, that I had to take it off in front of everyone else, in front of everyone. Like, that was very shocking to me. And, yes, that's pretty much it.
CAFFERTY: In the Islamic community, though, the point is it has much more significance than a head scarf being worn by someone of a different cultural or ethnic background? It has a deep significance to you. Were you treated politely by the people? Describe what happened. How did this take place?
SARSOUR: I actually wasn't treated politely. I was approached in like a different way as if I was someone else. And as an American, I was born and raised here, I believed that I should have had the same rights. They approached me and they didn't even say ma'am or anything. They were like hey, you need to take that off. And I was like excuse me, why didn't they tell -- he's like you need to take that off.
By the time I said that I didn't even have a chance and the soldiers were already surrounding me. I was very shocked.
CAFFERTY: Hodan Hassan, do you view this incident as racial profiling?
HODAN HASSAN, AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Well, it could be racial profiling. I think our issue with this particular incident is that rather than have her have to take off her veil in public, this should have been done in the privacy of a screening room, a room or maybe a screened off area. This isn't the first case. We've actually had at least 13 other cases of women who have contacted CARE and said that they were forced to remove their scarves in public.
We understand the...
CAFFERTY: We had...
HASSAN: Hmmm?
CAFFERTY: I'm sorry. We had a case of a U.S. congressman in the last day or two, John Dingle, who was forced to strip down to his shorts because an artificial hip set off a metal detector. You know, there is heightened security in this country in the wake of the events of 9-11. What would you like to see happen as a result of this? Are you planning legal action? Do you want an apology? What'll it take to make this right?
HASSAN: Yes, there's no, at this point, consideration of legal action. What we're asking, what our organization is asking on behalf of Mrs. Sarsour is that first that there be an apology to her and her family, that there be an investigation of this incident and more importantly that there be some clear guidelines set as to how searches should be conducted, in this case of Muslim women.
We have no issue with regard to having, asking her to take off the hejab. The real issue is that...
CAFFERTY: Just the way it was done.
HASSAN: ... it should have been done, the way it was done.
SARSOUR: Yes.
HASSAN: Exactly. Exactly.
CAFFERTY: Fair enough. Just for the purposes of our viewing audience, we did ask for spokespersons from both Delta and Northwest. They declined. But they did issue statements. A Delta spokeswoman said, "We do take this type of allegation seriously. We're investigating the alleged incident." And from Northwest, "We regret any inconvenience that recent FAA mandated procedures have created for any of our customers."
I thank you both for coming on AMERICAN MORNING and talking with us about this this morning.
HASSAN: Thank you very much.
SARSOUR: Thank you. CAFFERTY: Enaas Sarsour, who is the alleged victim in this, and Hodan Hassan, civil rights coordinator of the Council of American- Islamic Relations, thank you both and enjoy your day.
SARSOUR: Thank you.
HASSAN: Thank you.
SARSOUR: Thanks.
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