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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCheck out This Person on 'the no fly list' kicked off plane
Baby, 18 months old, ordered off plane at Fort Lauderdale airport
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - EIghteen-month-old Riyanna has been called a lot of things: cute, adorable and now ... a suspected terrorist.
She was called that on Tuesday night at the Ft Lauderdale Airport. She and her parents had just boarded a JetBlue flight when an airline employee approached them and asked them to get off the plane, saying representatives from the Transportation Security Agency wanted to speak to them.
"And I said, 'For what?'" Riyanna's mother told only WPBF 25 News on Wednesday. "And he said, 'Well, it's not you or your husband. Your daughter was flagged as no fly.' I said, 'Excuse me?
Rihanna's father was flabbergasted.
"It's absurd," he said. "It made no sense. Why would an 18-month-old child be on a no-fly list?"
Riyanna's parents, who asked not to be identified, said they think they know the answer to that question. They believe they were profiled because they are both of Middle Eastern descent. Riyanna's mother wears a hijab, a traditional head scarf. That's why they have asked to remain anonymous. They said they're concerned about repurcussions. That said, they are both Americans, born and raised in New Jersey, just like their daughter.
Riyanna's parents said once they were taken off the plane, they were met by TSA agents and made to stand in the terminal for about 30 minutes.
"We were put on display like a circus act because my wife wears a hijab," Riyanna's father said.
http://www.wpbf.com/news/south-florida/Baby-18-months-old-ordered-off-plane-at-Fort-Lauderdale-airport/-/8788880/13038550/-/fhxhp7/-/index.html
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)Terrorist 18 month old daughter too. LOL!
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Well, there's the problem right there.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Solly Mack
(90,798 posts)progressoid
(50,011 posts)JI7
(89,283 posts)braddy
(3,585 posts)Uhhh, OK......
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)police state America has become really does take one's breath away some times.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I think it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do:
keeping people anxious, fearful, on edge and sending millions of messages a day that this is not a
welcome country for racial minorities, gays, non-Christians, immigrants, and women who do not know "their place".
And that maybe, just maybe .."you may be next".
Think about the other passengers on the plane.
They did not know the TSA's excuse was the toddler. They are sitting there watching an obvious Muslim family
being taken off the plane.
I hope there were more passengers upset about that than there were who might have approved it,
but since none of the passengers would have been told of the reason, what are they to think?
What are they to speculate about?
What would be the most obvious thing to speculate about?
And now the Republicans are pushing to have the TSA privatized.
They'll probably succeed.
We have seen this movie before, it did not end well for millions of people.
gateley
(62,683 posts)Riyanna looks like a sweetie.
KAIXIN1
(6 posts)DesertDiamond
(1,616 posts)MadrasT
(7,237 posts)FSogol
(45,579 posts)rock
(13,218 posts)She doesn't look like she's incorporated!
just1voice
(1,362 posts)America has sold off our civil liberties to "security" companies who prey on us. Look at the recent "underwear bomb", it would supposedly go through any airport "security". We are not protected, we are sold.