Ok, after flying to and fro to Louisville Kentucky--and having had to be re-checked by TSA in Cleveland--I need to vent about Shahrukh Khan being detained in Newark airport!!
Unless you live under a rock, you by now know that Shahrukh Khan-named one of the 50 most influential men in the world by Newsweek magazine in January of this year, was detained for 2 hours at the Newark New Jersey airport. SRK was on his way to an Indian Independence Day (August 15th) in Chicago, with a stop first at Donald Trump's Taj Mahal Casino for a fan dinner. His name--Khan--popped up on the TSA computers, since all Muslims named Khan are terrorists. I guess they did not buy his 'I am an actor' line, they obviously did not look at his passport (he had been here less than a month ago for nearly 2 months filming a movie on how Muslim Indians were in the aftermath of 911. After a long wait, they finally let him call the Indian embassy in New York and they straightened it all out.
Umm--people, wake up!! Not all folks named Khan are terrorists!! This thinking has gotten other Bollywood actors detained--Irrfan Khan, Aamir Khan and the former president of Indian manhandled in the airport!!!
Sure, we need to be on the lookout, but 'flying while brown' should not be part of it. We still have these ideas about people different from us, and how they are 'scary'--but it is the 21st Century, we have GLOBAL communications--it should not be that hard for foreign nationals, who are loved and respected all over the globe to travel!!
Well--sorry for the rant--but I needed to get it off my chest!
One way to placate my injured soul, I will be heading to see Kaminey today--all by myself--and will post a review later.
Oh, by the way--Happy Independence Day India
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