It was mentioned in passing and seemingly in jest that due to my first and last names, I would encounter a heightened security screening prior to boarding my flight with El Al Airlines. With that said, I never thought it would happen quite as it did. I arrived at LAX around 11:10; 2 hours and 20 minutes before my scheduled departure. The El Al terminal is ripe with security guards carrying large guns in full view. As I joined my group to go through the standard interview of "Where are you going...who are you staying with...why do you want to come to israel, etc", everything appeared to go just fine until "Where is your father from?" I smiled and said "he is from Iran and came to the U.S. before the revolution..."
That was a mistake! In comes a supervisor: "Why did you feel it necessary to mention the revolution? Did he have knowledge of a revolution and was he a part of it?" Me: "um, no, um I meant nothing by it, that's the typical answer I give, um sorry." Supervisor: "Your father is Muslim? Does he attend Mosque? Pray?" Me: "He is more of a secular Muslim." (by this time I am keeping my answers as short as possible...don't want to volunteer info that can be further used against me) Supervisor: "So he is Muslim...hmmm ok so what church does he go to?" Me: "Church? oh, you mean is he Shi'ite or Sunni? Yes, well, um he is Shi'ite Muslim." Supervisor: "So he goes to church? Muslim's don't have church! So you see, you are making no sense." (takes notes) Me: "No, see, um, I realize they don't have church. That's only for Christians. I thought you were referring to a specific denomination within Isl..." Supervisor: "Wait right here sir."
Chief of Security approaches and asks me for all of my bags, including carry on. Chief: "We're going to inspect these, sir. Now come with me." We then go behind the area where bags are loaded into a small dimly lit room; lots of trash and one single chair. He wands me, asks me to drop my pants and asks me more questions to make sure everything added up with what I said before. At this point I'm thinking that I'm lucky not to go to jail, let alone make my flight. He leaves me in the room with a guard at the door for nearly 15 minutes. At least 4 of the El Al employees that I had dealt with ceased making eye contact and smiling...it almost appeared as if they were embarrassed that they had to take these measures to ensure security. I was then released to another employee who personally escorted me through security and all the way to my gate where I was quarantined from everyone else until the flight boarded, at which point I was escorted once again to the plane. The Chief of security told me that my bags were not fully inspected and at least one would not make the flight. Then, midway through my flight the flight attendant notified me that she received a fax stating that none of my bags were on the flight and I should expect them the following day. Once I arrived in Tel Aviv, at least two security members stopped me again. I noticed that they saw a sticker on the back of my passport with a "T" circled (presumably for Terrorist...regardless this was an alert that was branded me). I took it off as soon as I got on the bus. In the states I had been racially profiled for being black on several occasions, but this was the first time that I was profiled for being Iranian. Interestingly enough this is also the first time that I felt as if I was a jointly exhaustive dichotomy, of sorts. Two separate and mutually exclusive ethnicities ripe for racially profiling at the discretion of others.
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