By Keith Oppenheim
CNN
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- It's always interesting to me, that in my own country, I often get assignments where I walk into a room, and everyone looks and sounds different from me. Different language. Different culture. And sometimes, different beliefs.
On this story, I crossed such a threshold.
I stepped into the taxi depot that serves the Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport, where drivers sit and wait for their next fare. In this crowded, noisy room, most of the cabbies are Muslims originally from Somalia.
"We're doing a story about the conflict between the cabbies and the airport. The Muslim drivers have been refusing to take passengers carrying alcohol, such as wine or liquor purchased at a duty free shop," I explained.
A group of men gathered around us.
"This is America, we have freedom of religion," says one cabbie. We could see their feelings are intense -- that the issue seems to cut to the core of their identity.
"The Metropolitan Airport Commission is discriminating against us Muslim drivers," says Abdulkaddir Adan, a Somalian-American who's been driving a cab in the Twin Cities for two years.
We asked Adan if he'd give us a ride, and let us interview him while he was driving. He agreed. CNN Photojournalist Derek Davis set up a "lipstick" cam, a small camera, positioned on the dashboard.
From the back seat, I asked why Adan would object if I were carrying alcohol.
"The one who drinks, the one who transports, and the one who makes a business of it, they have the same category," he said.
"So, by my transporting my alcohol in your cab, you are sinning?" I asked.
"Sinning to God, yes," he replied.
Adan is not alone. About three quarters of the 900 cabbies serving the airport are Muslim, and many have been regularly refusing passengers carrying beer, wine or liquor.
---I thought this was a very interesting and controversial story. im not even gonna start to give my opinion.---
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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6 comments:
I can only imagine E...
They are walking a fine line, because they are performing a service, but they should be able to perform that service to whomever they choose, Interesting conundrum
Yes this is way too controversial for me to comment on without sounding like an ultra conservative, even though I am in lots of ways.
yes, it is very interesting to say the LEAST!
annonymous would be me
I typically side with people being able to express and live by their religious convictions. There are cases, though, where your job is your job and you have to do it or quit. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is such a case.
There was the big dust up a couple years ago where fundie Christian pharmacists wouldn't fill prescriptions for RU486. At that point they were actually interfering with someones medical care.
If you think the pharmacists had a right to do this, then you must concede the cabbies have a right to refuse booze in their cabs. The reverse isn't necessarily true, however, as we're talking about a cab ride vs. medical treatment given by order of a doctor.
A legitimate argument could be made either way on this cabbie issue. The problem will come when more conservative muslim cabbies refuse to take fares from unaccompanied women or women who are not dressed in accordance to Sharia law. Then you'll see more of an outcry against this.
It has already become established in some cities that the cabbies do not have a right to refuse service to whomever they choose. i believe that chicago mandates that a certain number of fares must be taken from "underserved" areas. Different reasons why cabbies wouldn't take a fare, but the government is still mandating who the cabbies pick up.
Ok, I can't carry booze in their cab, but can I smoke some hash out of a hooka?
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