4 ms·

Panic at EWR after racial profiling

43 points by leemailll 7y ago

tus88 7y ago
I would love if the title said "Newark Airport" instead of EWR which I had no idea what it meant.
rayiner 7y ago
> But once police arrived within a minute and started scanning the crowd, Xue said he felt compelled to come forward and identify himself. "I'm like, So, 90% chance I have something to do with this and it's escalated way too fast," said Xue. This story makes no sense. Why the hell would he volunteer to the police he was involved? Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport?
- teej 7y ago
  > Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport? Alaska Airlines employees, apparently.
- edanm 7y ago
  I mean, I guess it is the "right" thing to do. Though probably not the wisest.
- chrischen 7y ago
  An airline employee acts bizarre, told him she'd call the police. What would you do if suddenly the police came and shit hit the fan from the bizarre behavior? He was "volunteering" in that he had information about who caused the incident, which was actually the lady.
- ggm 7y ago
  This story makes no sense. Why the hell would he volunteer to the police he was involved? Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport? The story makes perfect sense. he was directly involved, and realized if he didn't self identify, the consequences would probably be prolonged, and less pleasant for everyone. He took one for the team in the wider public interest.
- rudiv 7y ago
  Perhaps he felt it was the right thing to do. Maybe it's hard to understand because his cultural context is so very different. Being that he's from Canada.
- BigJono 7y ago
  Seems fine to me. The lady told him she was calling the police on him so he notified them of that when they arrived. The only weird thing IMO is that he was '90% sure' he was the cause of the commotion. The overreaction seems ridiculous enough that if I were him I might have assumed there was another cause like an actual shooter or bomber there and indicated to the police as such, especially after they go "we've got him" and stop looking.
egdod 7y ago
Pretty strange. Why would she be racially profiling Asians as terrorist suspects? Have we had a rash of Chinese guys blowing up planes that I somehow missed?
- kart23 7y ago
  Yeah, this seems like a headline just made to get more clicks. It's just kinda weird honestly. Nothing about the questions she asked implies anything racial.
- mikeash 7y ago
  “...the woman has bipolar disorder and had missed her medication.”
- gfodor 7y ago
  If the person involved is suffering from mental illness, trying to ascribe any kind of rational (or even an irrational, but directional, motive like racism) seems folly. Is there any evidence to show this persons actions were based upon racial profiling and not some form of temporary insanity? IANAP but it seems as likely as not to me that the employee bumping into the person on line was the triggering event.
  - derekbreden 7y ago
    Why would mental illness, temporary or any other temporality, be reason to eliminate any value in categorizing the specifics of the behavior as racist? If not all racism, maybe some racism could be a symptom of mental illness? [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/
    - gfodor 7y ago
      I never claimed it eliminated any value, but to answer your question more directly, it reduces the value for the same reason it reduces the value of any action taken by an clinically insane person in terms of moral weight vs one who is sane: the insane person is presumed to have lost the ability to reason and act rationally due to factors outside of their free will. Of course, more to the point, is the fact that based on the article the extent of the evidence that this was racial profiling is that the victim speculated it was such, and the two victims were of similar ethnic origin. That, combined with the fact that it sounds like there is evidence supporting the idea the person may have been having a mental episode, should call into question the journalistic integrity of the author who in the title claims as fact that racism was the cause of the employee's behavior. At the very least, it seems like there is some chance that this person had some kind of lapse in sanity, and this article now labels that person as being a racist -- if that person's name were included in the article, they'd likely now be the target of an internet mob and persona non grata. Insofar as the allegations about their mental illness are true and have been identified as the cause (unknown) I commend Alaska Airlines for protecting the person's identity.
chrischen 7y ago
This is as much racial profiling as it would be if the airline employee accused them of being bad at math because they were Asian.

43 points by leemailll 7y ago

I would love if the title said "Newark Airport" instead of EWR which I had no idea what it meant.

> But once police arrived within a minute and started scanning the crowd, Xue said he felt compelled to come forward and identify himself. "I'm like, So, 90% chance I have something to do with this and it's escalated way too fast," said Xue. This story makes no sense. Why the hell would he volunteer to the police he was involved? Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport?

teej 7y ago
> Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport? Alaska Airlines employees, apparently.
edanm 7y ago
I mean, I guess it is the "right" thing to do. Though probably not the wisest.
chrischen 7y ago
An airline employee acts bizarre, told him she'd call the police. What would you do if suddenly the police came and shit hit the fan from the bizarre behavior? He was "volunteering" in that he had information about who caused the incident, which was actually the lady.
ggm 7y ago
This story makes no sense. Why the hell would he volunteer to the police he was involved? Who “racially profiles” Chinese people at an airport? The story makes perfect sense. he was directly involved, and realized if he didn't self identify, the consequences would probably be prolonged, and less pleasant for everyone. He took one for the team in the wider public interest.
rudiv 7y ago
Perhaps he felt it was the right thing to do. Maybe it's hard to understand because his cultural context is so very different. Being that he's from Canada.
BigJono 7y ago
Seems fine to me. The lady told him she was calling the police on him so he notified them of that when they arrived. The only weird thing IMO is that he was '90% sure' he was the cause of the commotion. The overreaction seems ridiculous enough that if I were him I might have assumed there was another cause like an actual shooter or bomber there and indicated to the police as such, especially after they go "we've got him" and stop looking.

egdod 7y ago

Pretty strange. Why would she be racially profiling Asians as terrorist suspects? Have we had a rash of Chinese guys blowing up planes that I somehow missed?

kart23 7y ago
Yeah, this seems like a headline just made to get more clicks. It's just kinda weird honestly. Nothing about the questions she asked implies anything racial.
mikeash 7y ago
“...the woman has bipolar disorder and had missed her medication.”
gfodor 7y ago
If the person involved is suffering from mental illness, trying to ascribe any kind of rational (or even an irrational, but directional, motive like racism) seems folly. Is there any evidence to show this persons actions were based upon racial profiling and not some form of temporary insanity? IANAP but it seems as likely as not to me that the employee bumping into the person on line was the triggering event.
- derekbreden 7y ago
  Why would mental illness, temporary or any other temporality, be reason to eliminate any value in categorizing the specifics of the behavior as racist? If not all racism, maybe some racism could be a symptom of mental illness? [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/
  - gfodor 7y ago
    I never claimed it eliminated any value, but to answer your question more directly, it reduces the value for the same reason it reduces the value of any action taken by an clinically insane person in terms of moral weight vs one who is sane: the insane person is presumed to have lost the ability to reason and act rationally due to factors outside of their free will. Of course, more to the point, is the fact that based on the article the extent of the evidence that this was racial profiling is that the victim speculated it was such, and the two victims were of similar ethnic origin. That, combined with the fact that it sounds like there is evidence supporting the idea the person may have been having a mental episode, should call into question the journalistic integrity of the author who in the title claims as fact that racism was the cause of the employee's behavior. At the very least, it seems like there is some chance that this person had some kind of lapse in sanity, and this article now labels that person as being a racist -- if that person's name were included in the article, they'd likely now be the target of an internet mob and persona non grata. Insofar as the allegations about their mental illness are true and have been identified as the cause (unknown) I commend Alaska Airlines for protecting the person's identity.

chrischen 7y ago

This is as much racial profiling as it would be if the airline employee accused them of being bad at math because they were Asian.