On a United Airlines flight earlier this week, something happened that should never, ever happen: A Muslim scholar wearing a headscarf was denied the right to be served an unopened can of Diet Coke. Yes, you read that right. Tahera Ahmad was denied an unopened can soda because she was told she might use it as a weapon!
You cannot have a Diet Coke because it can be used as a weapon.?WTF?!
Here is what Ms. Ahmad wrote on Facebook shortly after the incident:
So who is Tahera Ahmad? Oh, she’s only the?Director of Interfaith Engagement and Associate Chaplain at Northwestern University! She’s a scholar who just got denied a soda because she looks like a “terrorist.”
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of this egregious example of racial profiling is the fact that a social media has now begun urging people to boycott United Airlines. The reaction online has been swift and not to United’s benefit. Here are a few posts that have shown up:
Islamophobia in the United States, especially on media outlets such as Fox News, has now begun to poison the minds of people. How would we feel if we were on an overseas airline and told we could not order a can of soda because we are from a nation that has waged war over the past 200 years around the world? How much would we be offended? Tremendously, I’m willing to bet, and we would have every right to be.
We all have the right to be judged by who we are, not by the group we belong to, whatever particular group that may be.
