Advice re: border xenophobia

[the_fantastic_ms_fox]

Does anyone have any pointers on what to say to someone who has just said something to the effect of "why am I being hassled at the border? I'm White."

I don't want to "win" over this person. I want to change their minds. Or at least get zer to question what ze's saying and why ze's saying it. Or at least not just sit there and feel awkward... again.

I fear saying "what you just said sounds kind of racist/xenophobic/intolerant" or even "can you explain that remark" will cause zer to get defensive, which will turn this from a dialogue into an argument that appears to be over racial profiling but is really about egos.

I was thinking of leading with something along the lines of:

• Airport security doesn't actually make any sense. It's theatre
• The big threat right now in the US is from domestic terrorists (think: militia, the fringe of the Teabaggers), most of whom are White. (Implication - if you're in favour of racial profiling and you're White, get ready to wait...)
• While we associate the recent heightened security with terror fears, a lot of American border security actually actually has its roots in the "War on Drugs." Which is also stupid.
• Actually, a lot of people have problems with borders for no good reason. Although granted a lot of power, many border guards are never trained to question their own biases. The same goes for their superiors.

Is there an index somewhere of anti-oppressive etiquette? Some digital love-child of Emily Post and Leslie Feinburg? I could really use this.

Comments

[neomeruru.livejournal.com]

That phrase sounds like something I would say in order to problematize and draw out the very fact that, as a White person, I have (well, had( the privilege of passing through the border unnoticed.

But, I guess, it sounds like this person actually meant it as an honest question? I would probably not start out with an unpacking-your-backpack sort of discussion, because that tends to blow people's minds and the fallout is unpredictable.

[hundun.livejournal.com]

Any idea what to say then?

[koppermoon.livejournal.com]

Airport security doesn't actually make any sense. It's theatre.
That's my take on it, too.

And, yeah, it's only folks who are comfortable with white middle-class privilege that actually expect border crossings to be a formality. And I deliberately add the class thing, because blue-collar and lower-class "whites" can expect to get hassled too.

Common name syndrome can cause border hassles as well. I share my name with a left-wing US professor of Women's Studies who is on record as a "friend of Cuba", and that's prevented me from passing automated checks in the past.

what i'd say:

[bloodykitty.livejournal.com]

"I dunno. Tim McVeigh was white. And the Unabomber. And that IRS guy recently. I'm kind of glad they check everyone."

[(Anonymous)]

You could try parody.

"Well kid, let me tell you about political correctness as it applies to national security.

See, the people responsible for setting this policy are looking for the following races/backgrounds/characteristics. But, see, in an age of class-action lawsuits and affirmative action they know that if they tell their agents to look for only those things and channel 9 news gets ahold of it they'll get sued into oblivion and have a made-for-TV movie made about their moral character.

Therefore, they require their agents to search people in a manner that loosely conforms with statistics. You want to stop three visible minorities? That'll cost to you two WASPs and a child or two. Two 20-something youths in a late-model car? Need to grab some elderly folks so people don't feel singled out..."

etc. The more over the top the better.

Of course, they might just nod sagely and mutter something about quota hiring.

[hundun.livejournal.com]

I see there's a thesis behind your sarcasm, but I'm not sure where it begins and ends. Can you clarify?

It seems pretty clear that the people who are responsible for border security policy have strange ideas about who to profile and why, and how to communicate this to them to the enforcement bodies. I'd go so far as to call them dangerously incompetent. Examples:
- the sanctioned harassment of transsexuals
- seizing PG-rated films
- barring Olympic critics from entering Canada
- focusing on brown people as terror suspects when most of the heavily armed religious fanatics around here seem to be White.

[hundun.livejournal.com]

More specifically, my thesis is:

"Border control, as practiced here and elsewhere, leans too much towards a ritualized acting-out of the collective fears of the dominant political discourse. Border control could be better were it viewed as an extension of international policy, with border agent behaviour more rooted in statistical research than in gut reactions."

[(Anonymous)]

It's more or less just base rate fallacy - We live in predominantly white countries. There are simply a lot more white people that cross the border from the US to Canada (or into/out of either country individually) than any other demographic. Even if their probability of being involved in something nefarious is lower per person (which is an argument for another time. The point is that white people are capable of evil) there are -so many- of them that the raw number of villains will still be higher.

Border guards are human, and thus their 'instincts' for the job will be subject to their own biasses/stereotypes/imprints from fear mongering and/or sensational media. Left to their own devices they're going to ignore the above and focus on 'scary' demographics without even realizing it. It's a very human thing to do.

Someone upstairs knows this and requires border guards to check a certain raw percentage of 'less scary' demographics to try to keep cherrypicking down below the level where it actually compromises security.

Basically, "Why am I being hassled at the border? I'm White." is exactly the sort of attitude these regulations are in place to guard against.

It's also a check against someone exploiting those very human weaknesses. If they didn't check white people then almost all (successful, which is the worst kind) criminals and terrorists would soon be white people. Likewise for the elderly, military personnel, elected officials, children, the handicapped, law enforcement, or anyone else you care to name. Criminal enterprise is wonderfully adaptable.