| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
GuitarGuy305
Alien Abductee
USA
2007 Posts |
 Posted - 12/15/2001 : 6:11:50 PM
|
This is pretty absurd to me..see what you think, sorry for the long ass post.
Around midnight on Oct. 27, Sudeep Das and his wife Napur were watching an Indian film in their Plainsboro, N.J., apartment when there was a knock on the door. Four local police officers stood outside with some questions to ask the corporate executive. Das claims the officers wanted to see his car, but when he ventured outside to show it to them, he felt handcuffs bite into his wrists. "What's going on?" he asked. The officers politely declined to answer. Instead they asked Das if he had recently reserved a ticket for the shuttle bus from Plainsboro to J.F.K. airport in New York City. Das said he had booked a ride earlier that evening. They asked how he had spelled his name for the reservation clerk. Das said he spelled it: "D as in David, A as in America, S as in Sam."
According to an employee of the company that took the reservation, Airporter, based in Princeton, N.J., that is not what Das said. After hanging up with Das, an Airporter clerk went immediately to her supervisor and said she had just spoken with a man with a Middle Eastern accent who had spelled out his name "D as in destruction, A as in America, S as in Sam." "She couldn't believe somebody was using those words over the phone," says Hamilton Township, N.J., police lieutenant Michael Cane. Das was charged with one count each of disorderly conduct and harassment. Bond was set at $25,000. After Das spent five hours in jail, attorneys for his company, which has its headquarters in Atlanta, arranged to post bail. (As a condition of being interviewed, Das refused to give his company's name for fear that his arrest would cause the firm embarrassment.)
Das has been in the U.S. eight months. His accent sounds vaguely British, with the lilting tones characteristic of his native India. He insists that there is no way he could have mangled his pronunciation of David so profoundly that it could have been heard as destruction. Police have refused to name the reservationist or provide a copy of their report on Das, claiming that it is their policy to withhold such information. The CEO of Airporter, Alan Glickman, says the reservationist is a "valued employee in good standing." When Das goes before a judge on Dec. 18, facing the possibility of six months' jail time for each charge, it will be the clerk's word against his.
With Reporting by Anne Berryman/Athens
Thoughts?
Adam
And on the 8th day God created the art of war...and laughing, planned the end.
Email: Guitar_Boy1@yahoo.com
AIM: GuitarGuy305 |
|
|
Fleabass76
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1026 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2001 : 6:53:38 PM
|
I think it's a sad case of the American people suspecting every person who is from the middle east. It's an unfortunate thing that people are being immediately judged and suspected based on their ethnicity. Obviously when this clerk picked up the phone and heard an Indian dialect, she was listening for something incriminating.
"People always tell you to color inside the lines, [but] who drew the lines in the first place? [Think about that.]" -Victor Wooten |
 |
|
|
Dave S
Chatterbox
USA
145 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2001 : 10:09:40 PM
|
I can see how if he did say 'destruction' that could be disorderly conduct, maybe...but harassment? I mean he did spell his name after, it wasn't a prank call or anything. People are just too touchy these days.
|
|
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2001 : 10:01:48 AM
|
This fear to comment on this one. I might get arrested for disorderly conduct.
-----------------------
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those that falseley believe they are free."
 |
|
|
|
Fleabass76
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1026 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2001 : 5:24:32 PM
|
They should make a Sprint PCS commercial out of this scenario.
"People always tell you to color inside the lines, [but] who drew the lines in the first place? [Think about that.]" -Victor Wooten |
|
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2001 : 5:52:39 PM
|
quote:
They should make a Sprint PCS commercial out of this scenario.
"People always tell you to color inside the lines, [but] who drew the lines in the first place? [Think about that.]" -Victor Wooten
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HOHOHOHOHOHOHOH HEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH LMFAO!!!!!
-----------------------
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those that falseley believe they are free."
|
|
|
|
GuitarGuy305
Alien Abductee
USA
2007 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2001 : 6:34:19 PM
|
LOL!! I don't read stuff online that often that actually makes me laugh outloud, but that did it.
A lot of people on this board have that ability :)
Adam
And on the 8th day God created the art of war...and laughing, planned the end.
Email: Guitar_Boy1@yahoo.com
AIM: GuitarGuy305 |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2001 : 02:25:01 AM
|
quote:
I think it's a sad case of the American people suspecting every person who is from the middle east. It's an unfortunate thing that people are being immediately judged and suspected based on their ethnicity. Obviously when this clerk picked up the phone and heard an Indian dialect, she was listening for something incriminating.
Of course Indians are generally Hindu, not Muslim, but she probably didn't know that and won't bother to find out.
Since 9/11, I have seen friends of mine that I thought were perfectly intelligent become totally paranoid about middle eastern immigrants. Even people they had known for years. It's weird.
Since there's nothing I can do about that, I try to do what I can. And the only thing I have been able to think of so far is to invite friends out to dinner at local Muslim restaurants, like the now famous Beijing Islamic Chinese Restaurant. (http://www.timreynolds.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=862)
 |
|
|
|
GuitarGuy305
Alien Abductee
USA
2007 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2001 : 1:18:30 PM
|
Yeah, it pisses the hell out of me to no end that people stereotype people of middle eastern decent into the "terrorist" category. I mean, I really don't think that the indian guys and women at my work are secretly plotting to blow up the building, I just don't.
What's really scary is that you see these people driving old beat up cars, with american flags plastered all over them (or confederate flags, which were plastered on cars around here BEFORE 9/11), exhaust pouring out black smoke, bare feet sticking out the windows...and you know that those are the kind of people that would pull up next to an arab american at a stoplight, pull him out of his car and beat him to death...just becaue he is the same race (or not even the same race) as the terrorists. Almost makes you sick to your stomach, or at least it does me.
I mean, there was a time when it wasn't good to be a japanese american in this country too, and im sure all asians were persecuted, not just japanese, and that has passed, we can just hope and pray that this does too.
It doesn't help either that the media makes it seem like "your next store neighbor could be a member of Al Queda!!!" That bullshit is just stupid.
Anyway, enough ranting...
Adam
There's a lot more to music than notes on a page.
I am Ion, the priest of the inner sanctuary. I submit myself to an unendurable torment. I dismembered myself, and I have become spirit.
Email: Guitar_Boy1@yahoo.com
AIM: GuitarGuy305 |
|
|
|
crash258
Chatterbox
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2002 : 12:57:52 PM
|
I hope this doesnt make anyone here upset, but...
I dont see why people hyphenate all the time.
i.e., african-american, arab-american, so on and so forth.
I believe that everyone that lives in America is an american, I think that the hyphenation is used to seperate and divide us.
just a thought,
Philip
|
|
|
|
Saint Jude
Alien Abductee
USA
2144 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2002 : 2:04:49 PM
|
yeah thats kinda true. I also feel that everyone here are americans too. But they want that african or arab or what have you to show their heratige (sp?). thats something weird with most white people. we just dont realy give a shit where we came from. probably because it was very uninteresting and no tales of overcoming adversity.
Patriotism is a maggot in their heads. - Henry D. Thoreau |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2002 : 5:56:26 PM
|
I'm with crash. The hyphen thing is totally for USA people. You don't see Canadians or British folks going around as African-Canadians or Arab-British or whatever. (Except the French-Canadians I suppose, but I think we made that up; in their own language they are simply Quebecois or something like that.)
http://www.honolulumarathon.org (I ran under that sign!) |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Time Magazine Article
