The Boston Globe 9/30/01

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PROFILING OF ARABS

Polls say blacks tend to favor checks

By Ann Scales

WASHINGTON - African-Americans, whose treatment by the criminal justice system gave rise to the phrase ''racial profiling,'' are more likely than other racial groups to favor profiling and stringent airport security checks for Arabs and Arab-Americans in the wake of this month's terrorist attacks, two separate polls indicate.

The findings by the Gallup Organization and Zogby International were met with varying degrees of disappointment and disbelief by black activists and intellectuals, who struggled with explanations.

Roger Wilkins, a historian at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and the author of a new book on black patriotism, said he was surprised and disappointed. ''I do not think that you beat people who are trying to tear America down by turning your back on one of America's core principles - the presumption of innocence,'' Wilkins said.

Arab-American leaders said the poll results may reflect the nation's need to find a scapegoat, and said they didn't blame blacks for harboring attitudes that are part of the fabric of this nation.

''I don't think it's in any way hostility'' by blacks, said John Zogby, an Arab-American who conducted the Zogby poll. ''I think what they are saying is, `We get profiled all the time and we survived. Maybe they ought to, too.'''

But Angela Davis, a law professor at American University and a specialist on racism in the criminal justice system, said that if such attitudes exist, they are ''very troubling.''

''We as black people shouldn't be feeling that way,'' she said. ''All people of color are harmed by racial profiling, and we need to emphasize this and fight against it.''

In the Gallup Poll, 71 percent of black respondents said they would favor requiring Arabs, including those who are US citizens, to undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes. Fifty-seven percent of whites said they would favor such a policy. There was no category specifically for Hispanics and Asians. But among non-whites, the figure was 63 percent.

Asked whether they favor or oppose requiring Arabs, including US citizens, to carry special identification as a means of preventing terrorist attacks, 64 percent of blacks said yes, while 48 percent of whites said no. Among non-whites, 56 percent supported requiring Arabs to carry IDs.

In the Zogby poll, 54 percent of blacks surveyed said they support singling out Arab-Americans for special scrutiny at airport check-ins. However, Hispanics and whites said were opposed to such action, 63 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

Each survey questioned about 1,000 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

In Washington, with its large African-American population, some blacks, such as Thomas Irvin, 39, a public school teacher, say some blacks support racial profiling of Arabs because of the Sept. 11 attacks but are conflicted about it.

Irvin, who said he now backs tighter airport screenings and special IDs for Arabs, offered a simple rationale:

''It's better to be safe than sorry. I know it's wrong, but we'll apologize later,'' he said.

Douglas Drayton, a retired human resources manager, said he opposes racial profiling but would not want to fly on an airplane that carried a group of Arab passengers. ''Given the environment right now, I don't think Arabs would mind'' being subjected to this type of racial profiling, he said.

Alvin Poussaint, a psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School, said that the counterintuitive nature of the attitudes reflected in the polls and in the interviews was best understood in the context of the black experience in America.

''No black person has ever done anything close'' to what the terrorists are accused of, Poussaint said. ''We don't use tactics like that as a group, nor is it part of our political statement.

''So witnessing this probably blows everybody's minds, but with black people who are generally based in the turn-the-other-cheek, Christian principles of love, and thou shall not kill, this would not be something they would opt for,'' Poussaint said.

He added: ''They are feeling scared, and they are thinking about it irrationally. They even know it.''

Hussein Ibish, a spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the reasons may also be socio-economic. Blacks may not be sticking out their necks for Arabs because of the tension with immigrant groups who, blacks perceive, find it easier to get loans and establish businesses in black neighborhoods.

''This has created a level of tension between African-Americans and many different immigrant groups, Arab-Americans included,'' Ibish said. ''And I dare say Arab-Americans will not be the last group to have that occasional tension because of structural patterns of economic disenfranchisement.''

James Zogby, who heads the Arab American Institute and is the brother of the pollster, attended a discussion Friday on racial profiling during a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus. He found much support for Arab-Americans, as speaker after speaker denounced discrimination against them.

''The black leadership is very clear on this issue,'' James Zogby said. ''It may very well be that this message needs to go down to the grass-roots level. I find the statistics indicative of the fact that work needs to be done.''

Part of the problem, some analysts say, is that blacks aren't familiar enough with Arabs and Arab-Americans, and naturally find it easier to stereotype those they don't know. The Zogby poll, for instance, found that 32 percent of black respondents said they were not familiar with Arab-Americans, compared with 23 percent of whites.

-- (Captain America@Liberty.Justice), September 30, 2001

Answers

The findings by the Gallup Organization and Zogby International were met with varying degrees of disappointment and disbelief by black activists and intellectuals, who struggled with explanations

Ain't it a bitch when the real world refuses to confirm our most cherished pre-conceptions?

-- (Captain America @ Liberty.Justice), September 30, 2001.

Polls lie.

Polls can be/are manipulated.

I know of no black persons among my wide acquaintance who favor racial profiling in ANY form, for ANY reason, national security included.

Racial profiling is an evil practice, and no amount of flagwaving can make it otherwise.

-- racism.is.sin (nothere@notnow.notever), September 30, 2001.

Fly much?

-- (Captain America @ Liberty.Justice), October 01, 2001.

What the- since when do polls care what blacks say? The majority of blacks were not in favor of school busing, yet bused they were.

Rather, the media would prefer to quote self-proclaimed 'black leaders' (how come no other races have 'leaders'), like the tarnished Jesse, or Angela (are you kidding me? talk about tired self-declared commies which no one cares about or listens to).

How funny that Angela declares that she speaks for black people, and that black people should think her way.

-- ForwardMyFinnyFriends (CaptainMidnight@JLA.com), October 01, 2001.

Maybe the black respondents felt that racial profiling can only be gotten rid of by extending profiling to everyone. Extending it to Arabs as well as blacks would be a start.

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), October 01, 2001.

I ain't flyin no airplanes that has Arab mofos as passengers just to show how Liberal I is.

-- (Rodney King @ LA.lockup), October 01, 2001.

Where's the part of the commentary that gets around to blaming this on Whitey?

Dan V.

-- Jimmy Splinters (jsplinters@earthlink.net), October 01, 2001.