BBC News reports that Raed Jarrar was barred from a flight to California due to his Arabic black t-shirt. The t-shirt had Arabic and English wording on it that said, ‘We will not be silent’.
Jarrar was confronted after he passed security check in at John F Kennedy airport. The security officials told him that some of the people in the airport were concerned about his t-shirt because they didn’t understand what the Arabic wording translated to. ‘We will not be silent’ comes from the White Rose dissident group when Nazi ruled Germany. It is actually an opposing phrase to the war. Since others did not know this, Jarrar was asked to change his shirt. Officials bought him a new shirt and asked him to put it on or he wouldn’t be able to board his flight.
Jarrar did not feel that his shirt was offensive and did not understand why he could not express himself in this way especially in America. He felt that he was entitled to freedom of speech. However, Jarrar did agree to wear the purchased shirt so he could board the plane.
(c) Hans Thoursie,www.sxc.hu
