• 10.07.2004
TERRIFYING EXAMPLE OF RAMPANT RACIAL PROFILING UNDER THE PATRIOT ACT
By Jimmy Daily

This morning, on the train coming out of Manhattan on the Hudson line, my co-worker got arrested.

He is a programmer from India who has been working on our software project for months.

He is totally guilty of what he was arrested for: Being a young, dark-skinned (Indian) guy with an accent, video-taping the beautiful view of the Hudson river that the Hudson train line runs along, and being reported to the police by two young girls. Apparently that's a crime. Our lead developer was on the train too, and when tried to vouch for him, he had to back off as the policeman said "if you're with him, you'd better come too...." Our lead is a British citizen of Indian descent, with a strong British (not Indian) accent.

This is absolutely outrageous. Thousands of tourists, including Asians, Caucasians, Hispanics, and people with dark skin, use their camcorders to record memories of their time in new york every day. Soni would not have been arrested if he was white and had no accent.

I'm on the verge of driving down to the Yonkers police station right now to see if I can help...