I walked out of Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon in London. Before boarding the plane Friday in Toronto it was impossible for me, a Sikh male with brown skin, black hair and a goatee, not to wonder if travelling would be as it was after 9/11.

For about four months after the attacks on New York and Washington, many fellow passengers on flights I took to Winnipeg, New York and Las Vegas reacted to me as a child does on the first day of kindergarten. They were scared.

A lady in her 60s on a WestJet flight out of Hamilton told me she didn't mean to be rude, but would feel more comfortable if she could move from our row....

A new Gallup poll revealed the discomfort Americans have about being near Muslims: "22 per cent say they would not like to have a Muslim as a neighbour; 18 per cent say they would feel nervous if they noticed a Muslim woman flying on the same airplane as themselves; while 31 per cent say they would feel nervous if they noticed a Muslim man on their flight; fewer than half believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States."....

More disturbing than any look I've gotten on planes are the number of mosques torched across North America and backlash attacks against Muslims reported since 2001. These are as unacceptable as any terrorism....

I wonder if I'll ever step on a plane again and sit next to a friendly stranger who greets me with an honest smile. [Link]

Tags: airport profiling, racial profiling, profiling, Sikh, Muslim, terrorism.