I Look Like a Terrorist

Apparently, I look like a terrorist even though I come from a peace loving family of Italian immigrants. I have a thick black beard and a skin tone that gets very dark in prolonged sunlight. Because of the way that I look, I have undergone extra scrutiny ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

When my family goes through the airport together, I am often told that I have been randomly assigned to be pulled aside for extra screening. Others around me watch as I get frisked and sometimes even briefly detained. Black people, blonde people, and red heads get to walk right past me. The TSA wants to hear how I speak. I currently have one of the cleanest criminal records in the United States, but I am unfortunately still often treated like a criminal when I attempt to walk through an airport in my own country.

I have no idea what it feels like to be black in the United States, but I am very aware what it feels like to be profiled. But the sad fact is that people who look like me are much more likely to blow up an airplane than people who don’t. The painful truth is that it is not the fault of the TSA that they sometimes look at me and suspect that I might be a criminal. My problem is that too many middle aged adults with slightly dark skin and thick black beards do not know how to behave themselves in a civilized society.

With all that being said, if the TSA proceeded to choke me to death because I momentarily flailed my arms and refused to be frisked at the airport then those same officials deserve to go to prison. If I were profiled and killed undeservedly and a grand jury found everyone involved to be not guilty, other middle aged men with slightly dark skin and black beards would start questioning if they too were now expendable in our society.

Terrorists who look similar to me brought this problem to my doorstep even though I personally did nothing to deserve this. Because of this fact, I refuse to direct my anger towards law enforcement who sometimes treat me like a criminal even when I am innocent. I choose to direct my frustration and anger towards the lawless black-bearded sociopaths whose actions resulted in this unfairness and undue prejudice being directed towards me in the first place.

Unfortunately, the real reason behind a person’s own prejudice and racial fears in the United States is a conversation that far too many of us are afraid to have. Until we open up and begin to engage in a grown up conversation about the real problems going on deep within our culture, this great nation will continue to suffer. Until we all take an honest look at ourselves and how each of us individually contribute to the problem, this great nation will continue to be divided.