Abbas Raza, editor of 3 Quarks Daily, recounts three tales of major and minor horror in The Smart Set. All are first person accounts; they variously involve a case of mistaken identity, a pompously pious immigration official, the unexpected outcome of making an illegal left turn on a Manhattan street and some terrifying hours spent in jail. (We are thankful that Abbas came out of the ordeals with his sense of humor intact.)
Mr. Sampson, I Presume?
It was about five years ago. I was returning from Pakistan and standing in the immigration line at JFK, completely exhausted after a 20-hour flight. When my turn came up at the counter, the INS agent looked at my papers, typed a few things into his computer, and then asked me to follow him to a large room at the side of the immigration hall. I was informed that I was being detained. Two agents handcuffed me and led me to another smaller room. When I asked what I had done. They said things like, "Oh, you know what you’ve done. We know who you are."
“Who am I? What have I done?”
“You should know that better than we do, now shouldn’t you?”
When I asked to contact a lawyer, I was informed that I hadn’t yet been admitted to the United States, and so had no legal standing. No lawyer would be called, nor would I be allowed to call anyone else. They took my cuffs off, fingerprinted me (very difficult because of my sweaty palms), recuffed me, and then left me there.
It was at this point that my knees went a little trembly. I had heard many stories of Pakistanis being held for months without charges under the Patriot Act, and now I had visions of Guantanamo in my head, and I became almost dizzy with the adrenaline rush of fear. I thought that I must have been mistaken for someone else, God knows who, and there would be no chance to clear my name. I sat in that room for a few sweat-drenched hours before a couple of INS officers came in with two police officers from the NYPD. The NYPD officers told me that they had a warrant for my arrest. This immediately came as a huge relief to me, because whatever it was they wanted with me, I would rather be held by the NYPD in New York, than in some INS facility. I felt like whatever it was, I would be able to clear it up….. (Do read the whole story – all three adventures.)
Abbas has posted the link to this piece at 3 QD. Despite the light hearted and self deprecating tone he injected into the narrative, the response of readers (including mine) ran the gamut of faint amusement, disbelief and alarm. Many interpreted the stories as describing the common fate of south Asian and middle eastern men in post 9/11 America. But the author assures us that his experience of living in America for nearly a quarter of a century has been nothing but peaceful, friendly and enjoyable. He just seems to encounter a disproportionately greater share of Kafkaesque adventures than most people. Here is his response to the concern of readers who saw the shadow of unfair profiling in these episodes.
Let me emphasize this: I have NEVER, at work, at college, at university, or elsewhere (except for airports after 9/11) felt that I have been mistreated because of race or religion or ethnicity in America. On the contrary, America has been remarkably fair in its treatment of me. (Even the citizenship was granted on appeal, after all.)
Even after the horrific attacks by Muslims on 9/11, I have never once felt singled out for mistreatment or suspicion in New York City, nor has anyone else I know, including many Arab friends. It is a remarkable and beautiful thing, really. Europe is far more xenophobic, and I have already had run ins with the Carabinieri here (sorry Bhaisaheb), and solely because of how I look. (My Pakistani friend–a prof at Oxford–and I, were stopped, for example, walking on the street and asked to show our papers and held there for a half hour until they could check up on us. My wife’s sister said to me that it was just a random check. I asked her how many times she has been randomly checked in the past 30 years here. The predictable answer: zero. I have been stopped several times in 3 months.)
There is an ease with which America assimilates its immigrants that is very different from Europe. My stories were just meant to be funny. Please don’t take them as some sort of complaint. I have no complaints.
(Abbas is currently on a sabbatical in small town in northern Italy near the Austrian border.)
Accidental Blogger 
2 responses to ““We Know Who You Are””
Despite the light tenor of Abbas’ story, it is quite horrifying. It’s a first hand view of lockups that no law abiding citizen should have to get, and all this based purely on what – racial profiling and minor misdemeanors and confusion on the part of the authorities.
A year or so ago, I faced a mild situation of being profiled as a ‘shoplifting’ type at a local store, but was able to get out of that one with self-respect intact. Abbas’ experience is more scary, hands down.
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Abbas’ encounters with the INS and later with the NYPD would be indeed scary if one didn’t know that he came out of the ordeals safe of body and sound of mind. Despite his assurance, I still tend to see some racial profiling there – particularly in the airport incident.
What was more annoying and dumbfounding though was the exchange with the pious Bangladeshi immigration official regarding his Muslim credentials. As someone pointed out on 3QD, Abbas got penalized for not being Muslim enough in America !
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