Today's "non-White man detained for foreign language use at the airport" story of the day comes to you from Seattle, Washington via the SAJA list. Article with my commentary below:

A 32-year-old man speaking Tamil and some English about a sporting rivalry was questioned at Sea-Tac Airport and missed his flight Saturday because at least one person thought he was suspicious.

Cowboys fans are terrorists in any language.

The Port of Seattle dispatched its police officers to investigate the case, which occurred Saturday around noon, said Bob Parker, airport spokesman. The Chicago man was preparing to board an American Airlines flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

"Alert! Alert! Possible public relations fiasco! All units to departure gate for photo-op!"

The man was speaking Tamil, a language largely used in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, on his cell phone at the departure gate and on the aircraft. An off-duty airline employee heard the conversation and informed the flight crew.

Singapore? I will go with either of two wikipedia interpretations: "India and Sri Lanka, with significant minorities in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Mauritius, and South Africa, and emigrant communities around the world;" or "Spoken predominantly by Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore, it has smaller communities of speakers in many other countries." I suppose the writer was going with what wikipedia later points out in the same entry: "It is one of the official languages of India, Singapore and Sri Lanka."

More importantly, off-duty = "has nothing better to do" or "hypervigilant in all the wrong ways" apparently.

The man also apparently said something in English about a sporting rivalry at his alma mater.

Likely story. I still say he's a Cowboys fan terrorist.

"It's a big misunderstanding," said Parker. "He had a perfectly innocent explanation that all added up."

There is no "innocent explanation" for this, nor is this "a big misunderstanding." This is the culmination of a several year trend in which the government of the United States, with the collaboration of the media and other important sectors, has taught its population to look at yet another group of people as suspect. Please see also: Black men looking for taxis, driving, shopping, or engaging in other day-to-day activities; Latinos or criminals looking for jobs; and "Muslim-looking people" taking photographs of tourist attractions or attending religious gatherings. Also consult Operation TIPS, brought to you by the makers of America's Most Wanted and the good people at the Ashcroft Department of Justice!

Parker said it is incumbent on airport officials to investigate reports of suspicious activity."It's hard to triage over the phone," he said.

Translation: "I am not apologizing, no matter how wrong we were in this particular case."

But Parker had no explanation as to why a man speaking Tamil, which is spoken worldwide, would be considered suspicious. The person who contacted airport officials could give an answer to that question, he added.

Yeah, he can given an answer, but so can I, and so can you, and so could Parker if he were a bit more honest. If you're a young, Middle-Eastern or South Asian looking man talking on your cell phone in a foreign language at an airport, you have a much higher chance of provoking the fear of people who have been systematically indoctrinated to fear you.

Parker said the man was cooperative and boarded a later flight to Texas.

Translation: Cooperate, and there will be no problems.

He told officials that he would not speak in a foreign language on his cell phone at an airport in the future.

This is the saddest and most upsetting part of the story for me. Can you say chilling effect?