TSA Settles in Arabic T-Shirt Case

Thursday, January 08, 2009
"We will not be silent"

Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-born U.S. legal permanent resident, won $120,000 in a court settlement with JetBlue and employees of the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) after being forced to cover up his T-shirt which said in both English and Arabic, “We will not be silent,” Before taking off from JFk Airport. The landmark settlement came only days after nine Muslim passengers were removed from a flight out of Washington D.C., prompting complaints and possible litigation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Jarrar is married to an American woman, and works for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-affiliated human rights and humanitarian relief organization which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947. Representatives of JetBlue and TSA denied wrongdoing, and claimed they settled the case to avoid legal fees. The TSA has been notorious for their complacence regarding racial profiling. Data provided by the Department of Transportation indicates that only 4 out of 1,022 complaints against airlines since 2001 have led to administrative enforcement actions.

 
JetBlue, TSA Workers Settle in T-Shirt Case (by Spencer S. Hsu and Sholnn Freeman, Washington Post)
Stipulated Settlement Agreement and Retention of Jurisdiction (PDF) (United States District Court, Eastern District of New York)
In the Middle (Raed Jarrar’s blog)

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