Racism In Sherman Alexie's Flight Patterns

As we begin reading The Limits of Whiteness, Maghboulegh introduces us to the court case Pourghoraishi vs Flying J Inc where Pourghoraishi, an Iranian American, is discriminated against by the white manager of Flying J and a white police officer. These men, who live in a post 9/11 world, classify Pourghoraishi as “Persian” and relate his appearance to a terrorist.

“Sitting on the hard-wooden bench, I watch each white person clear immigration in seconds and I’m filled with hopelessness” (Ahmad 38). In the short story, ‘I Belong Here’, the author Amin Ahmad tells of the unfair treatment he experiences while at a British airport. Ahmad was born in Calcutta, India. He now resides with his Caucasian fiancé in Boston, Massachusetts. This essay was published by The Sun Magazine in January 2010 and reprint by Utne Reader May-June 2010. His documented experience exposes, “splendor and heartache of being human” (38). The warrants Ahmad uses to support his claims are not directly stated but more implied. He incorporates various descriptions and scenarios that correlates with his argument. For instance, he compares the two passports at the beginning of the essay. This comparison hints to the reader that he will soon encounter judgement based on appearance. Ahmad then proceeds to the next scenario. He is placed into a categorized with others like him and receiving the same treatment. Finally, he uses his fiancé as an example of what many people do while witnessing unfair treatment; attempt to minimize the situation. His claim is apparent. Inequality is a significant issue mainly targeting those of diverse backgrounds, ethnicity, and race.

Once the patriot act was enacted racial and ethnic profiling spiked. Now Muslim men are 65% more likely to be stopped for “random searches” at transportation hubs such as airports. According to Ibrahim Hooper, “American Muslims have already lost many their civil rights and All Muslims are considered suspects” (Bork). The biggest sign of this is supposedly ethnic profiling that is now occurring all over the country but mostly in airports but other places as well. “This form of discrimination is felt to be

America is a country of immigrants, as a popular saying goes. But the history of America is also full of intolerance and hatred for immigrants who have otherwise constituted an integral part of the American society. When it comes to minority groups in America, different standards apply to public consciousness and the law. Many Americans sometimes see members of minority groups as less than human. The intolerance and hate crimes against minority groups increase in times of crises. Crises intensify the already existing feelings of resentment and hatred directed against immigrants and members of minority groups. The case of Vincent Chin and that of post-9/11 hate victims are good indications of this trend in American history. Vincent Chin and Middle Eastern "looking" people in America after 9/11 were victims of such intolerance and hatred. Chin and post-9/11 victims became not just victims of hate attack but also casualties of racist and unjust criminal system.

While Mr. Graham 's response to racial profiling is understandable, his choice to assimilate validates fears about black people in public places. Graham’s article coupled with the real-life experiences of African Americans as well as articles written about the African American experience in white society all show the futility of African American’s attempts to assimilate into white society. Graham’s actions show that he seems to agree with the popular idea that African Americans are dangerous.

Racial profiling is a burden on many because of the few, and something people will. Have to live with for the rest of their life. As Brent Staples first discovered by merely walking down an uninhabited street. Turning the corner staples was noticed by a white woman, who in moments started running down the street away. Staples called this "the ability to alter public space in ugly ways"(Staples, 2) leaving him in a state of dismay. The acts come in all different shapes and sizes from the locking to cars as Staples goes past to people going to the other side of the road in fear to pass him on the same side. Staples describes how black men have a long history in mugging literature. As black male Staples has to live with racial profiling every

“Flight Patterns” is set in Seattle in the period of National crisis and rebuilding followed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In this time people who happened to fall into the brown skin color class were viewed with much paranoia and distrust only because the people who landed planes in the middle of the World Trade Center happened to be brown. Even William said that, “...I started looking around for suspicious brown guys. I was scared of little brown guys. So was everybody else. We were all afraid of the same things. I started looking around for big white guys because I figured they’d be undercover cops, right?” (Alexie 63). So “big white guys” are also viewed with much suspicion because most people thought that the “big white guys” were undercover cops. William later goes on to ask Fedaku, “‘Where did you get that?’...‘You must think I got this flying in a war. But no, I got this in a taxicab wreck’” (Alexie 66). William has certain expectations of Fedaku based on what he can see with the naked eye and what back story Fedaku has told him. When we differ from people’s expectations of us, those people who have previously typified us are moved. They become surprised and maybe a little bit taken aback. These emotions they are feeling happen because they base their expectations on facts that are not real. They are imaginary facts that exist only in the mind of the

My family’s narrative begins in the South. Beginning with my 92 year old grandmother’s narrative beginning in a small town in Louisiana, ultimately relocating to Houston, Texas as an adolescent, eventually making her way to New York City during the era of the Great Migration, and my father’s narrative of being a Black kid, raised in Spanish Harlem. In this paper, I will discuss their migratory experiences that ultimately led me to arrive to the Big Apple.

Fiction plays the important role of illustrating different perspectives to the masses. Sometimes, novelists craft characters to represent their audiences’ desire for a new point-of-view; something a half-Native American foster child, called Zits, desperately needs in his life. In his novel, Flight, Sherman Alexie transports Zits into minds across time to show the struggle between Native Americans and Colonial Americans. Setting in Flight changes rapidly as only a few chapters are dedicated to each piece of history.

In the story, “Black and Blue,” written by Garnette Cadogan, the narrator talks of his struggles of discrimination and the differences he faces while assimilating into the culture of New Orleans and New York City from Jamaica. It is unsettling to think that the American Dream is not available to everyone because they are seen differently because of their race. Garnette’s story is just one example of the many people who are treated differently because of the color of their skin and overall appearance.

The first of many things that grabbed my attention about the short story “Flying Home” by Ralph Ellison is the author’s name. Ellison was named after the well-known Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emmerson and it is a fascinating coincidence that this short story has many transcendental and spiritual qualities that are relayed through symbolism and spiritual references. The story gives an insight to the struggle for not only racial identity and acceptance but personal identity and acceptance. The main character, Todd, is striving to achieve his childhood dream of flying and training to be a pilot, but his encounters in the field where his plane crashes with Jefferson seem to send him on a journey to address the duality of his thought processes. African American pilots were in training, but had not been dispatched to participate in wartime maneuvers which resulted in personal and social conflict in the pilots.

Profiling people can cause a brick wall to be built between one another, a wall that cannot be easily knocked down. The bricks come down as the person doing the profiling sees beyond physical appearance. When the wall comes down a transparent window forms with a beautiful view. There is more to a person than their exterior, just like there is more to a room than walls. When profiling someone, people do not see past the brick wall; they build it higher and higher. When someone takes the time to get to know someone else, the wall comes down; at that point, people get a clear view of who people are, which could be beautiful. Profiling causes people to become engulfed by other people 's perceptions of who they are, and it becomes a conflict between racial heritage and common humanity. Through the characters, setting, and tone of “Flight Patterns,” Sherman Alexie shows that profiling can lead to the misinterpretation of who someone is.

Cultural discrimination in an airport, speaking from personal experience, has an insurmountable, mentally damaging effect on the individual. With no discretion given, the progress begins when a last name, in my case, of Persian origin, is prompted by the computer system to flag a passenger in the check-in line, initiating US Customs Officials to investigate. With all other passengers present, the humiliating ‘show’ (debacle), becomes the focus of all eyes, who immediately

As an immigrant to the United States, growing up in the Miami metropolitan area was forgiving for an assimilating nine-year-old. Miami, with its diversity of representation, was contrasted against American Airline’s advertisements that portrayed the current hegemonic state of America – successful white males and white families.

This story is set back whenever races were being integrated in the United States, it follows a depressed man named Julian and his mother on the bus travelling to her doctor. Julian’s mother is a very racially insensitive person as she was raised by people who were that way. Her grandfather owned slaves, and with the recent integration she wasn’t very pleased, feeling as she is above them, a higher class. This ancient thinking of hers is what was heavily depressing Julian, who felt that his only escape from it was to hide in his own little bubble. Julian is an example of what racial insensitivity can do to people, even those who are not being targeted, it can cause a sort of hatred and judgement to anybody who can act so cruel and inconsiderate to how others