VTMBH Article: Body
Indo-Canadian writer describes security inspections at U.S. airports as degrading; says he felt like a second-class citizen
Last week, celebrated author Rohinton Mistry canceled his book tour of the United States midway through on grounds that he felt racially profiled at airports. The Canadian authors decision is part of the rift between Ottawa and Washington following tightened security measures by the United States on incoming visitors who may have been born in Arab or Muslim countries.
Mistry, author of acclaimed works, including: A Fine Balance and Family Matters, which was a candidate this year for Britains top literary honor, the Booker Prize, told audiences in Toronto that he found the security inspections at U.S. airports degrading. After The Globe and Mail reported Mistrys decision to cancel the tour on Nov. 2, the author decided to speak up.
The way you look, where you were born, these things are what will determine how you will be treated at certain airports, he told an audience at Torontos International Festival of Authors on Nov. 2.
India-born Mistry, who is not a Muslim, is not required to undergo a security clearance according to lists the United States has put out post-September 11th. He was scheduled to tour six U.S. cities.
On his first flight, Mistry was told he was selected randomly from passengers boarding a flight. Then it began to happen at every single stop, at every single airport. The random process took on an 100 percent certitude, he said.
Mistry is not an unknown face in the United States. Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey, the popular talk-show host, made Mistrys A Fine Balance part of her book-club selection; millions saw him on television during her show and his book sales went up. He has received a number of awards, including Canadas Giller Prize (equivalent of the Booker), as well as the Governor Generals Award.
Nevertheless, the author said, he felt like a second-class citizen before boarding planes in the United States Mistry said the security checks were so frequent that he even considered shaving his goatee so that the security guards wouldnt perceive him as a terrorist. But when I caught myself thinking in this manner, trying to appease a bad policy, I knew it was time to call off the rest of it, he said.
As a person of color, he was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the wayto the point where the humiliation of both he and his wife had become unbearable, a memo from the authors U.S. publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, said.
Mistry had told Knopfs Sonny Mehta that he did not like the treatment that was meted out to him in the United States. He just said that he had a terrible time travelling in the United States. He was really upset, Mehta reportedly told the Globe.
Meanwhile, Washington has tried to allay Canadian fears, and the U.S. embassy in Ottawa said on Nov. 1 that the place of birth alone would not automatically trigger registration.
Canada has been warning its own citizens to consider carefully before they travel to the United States. Canadians born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen were warned that they could face additional security checks at immigration, where they might be fingerprinted and photographed. Some 20 Arab and Muslim countries are on that list.
Last week, Washington deported a Canadian citizen to Syria because he was born in the Middle East.
Last week, celebrated author Rohinton Mistry canceled his book tour of the United States midway through on grounds that he felt racially profiled at airports. The Canadian authors decision is part of the rift between Ottawa and Washington following tightened security measures by the United States on incoming visitors who may have been born in Arab or Muslim countries.
Mistry, author of acclaimed works, including: A Fine Balance and Family Matters, which was a candidate this year for Britains top literary honor, the Booker Prize, told audiences in Toronto that he found the security inspections at U.S. airports degrading. After The Globe and Mail reported Mistrys decision to cancel the tour on Nov. 2, the author decided to speak up.
The way you look, where you were born, these things are what will determine how you will be treated at certain airports, he told an audience at Torontos International Festival of Authors on Nov. 2.
India-born Mistry, who is not a Muslim, is not required to undergo a security clearance according to lists the United States has put out post-September 11th. He was scheduled to tour six U.S. cities.
On his first flight, Mistry was told he was selected randomly from passengers boarding a flight. Then it began to happen at every single stop, at every single airport. The random process took on an 100 percent certitude, he said.
Mistry is not an unknown face in the United States. Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey, the popular talk-show host, made Mistrys A Fine Balance part of her book-club selection; millions saw him on television during her show and his book sales went up. He has received a number of awards, including Canadas Giller Prize (equivalent of the Booker), as well as the Governor Generals Award.
Nevertheless, the author said, he felt like a second-class citizen before boarding planes in the United States Mistry said the security checks were so frequent that he even considered shaving his goatee so that the security guards wouldnt perceive him as a terrorist. But when I caught myself thinking in this manner, trying to appease a bad policy, I knew it was time to call off the rest of it, he said.
As a person of color, he was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the wayto the point where the humiliation of both he and his wife had become unbearable, a memo from the authors U.S. publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, said.
Mistry had told Knopfs Sonny Mehta that he did not like the treatment that was meted out to him in the United States. He just said that he had a terrible time travelling in the United States. He was really upset, Mehta reportedly told the Globe.
Meanwhile, Washington has tried to allay Canadian fears, and the U.S. embassy in Ottawa said on Nov. 1 that the place of birth alone would not automatically trigger registration.
Canada has been warning its own citizens to consider carefully before they travel to the United States. Canadians born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen were warned that they could face additional security checks at immigration, where they might be fingerprinted and photographed. Some 20 Arab and Muslim countries are on that list.
Last week, Washington deported a Canadian citizen to Syria because he was born in the Middle East.