Sikh actor and designer is based in New York City.
AB Wire
New York-based actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia is the latest victim of racism and ignorance because of his wearing a turban – an article of faith for the Sikhs: Aero Mexico barred him in Mexico City from flying back to New York City because he refused to remove his turban for a security check in public.
Ahluwalia told the Daily News that security personnel held him back until everyone else had boarded the 7:15 a.m. Monday flight from Mexico City before searching his bag, swabbing him and patting him down to the soles of his feet.
Ahluwalia, who has appeared in 17 films, including “Inside Man,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Darjeeling Limited,” said he complied with the “annoying” security measures, but drew the line when he was asked to remove his turban.
“That is not something that I would do in public,” he explained. “That’s akin to asking someone to take off their clothes.”
Ahluwalia said he asked to be taken to a private screening room, but was denied.
“You will not be flying Aero Mexico,” an airline employee told him, Ahluwalia said. “You will need to book another flight.”
“I was shaking at first,” he said. “That’s not a nice thing to be told, that you are not allowed to fly on this plane because of something you are wearing, or because of your religious beliefs.”
The Monday incident came after Ahluwalia learned he had been singled out for a more-intensive search, known as “Secondary Security Screening Selection” and indicated by four big “S” letters on a passenger’s boarding card, reported Daily News.
The “SSSS” indicates to security personnel that the customer has been flagged for enhanced pat-downs, having their possessions swabbed and tested for explosive residue, and being wanded by a hand-held metal detector. The “SSSS” designation is supposedly random, but no one believes that it is.
“I’ve had the magic ‘SSSS’ before,” Ahluwalia, 41, told the News. “I’m really lucky on my ‘random’ selection.”
After missing the flight home, Ahluwalia posted a selfie with his plane ticket on Instagram. He captioned it: “This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban.” He used the hashtags #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear.
The Sikh Coalition retweeted his original post with the message that the designer was detained “due to fear” with the hashtag #EndHate.
In a statement, Aero Mexico said Ahluwalia “was asked to submit to screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol,” and that the airline offered him alternatives to fly home.
Aero Mexico did not apologize but said, “We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident.”
Ahluwalia ended up on a Delta flight later that afternoon, but said he would fly Aero Mexico again if the carrier publicly apologizes and commits to training staff on how to work with Sikhs and to screen passengers with religious headwear.
Ahluwalia had ironically modelled in a Gap campaign in 2013 — the first Sikh man to do so – only to have many posters tagged with racist graffiti such as “Make Bombs” and “Please stop driving taxis.”
A scene from his 2006 film “Inside Man” eerily predicted Monday’s security problem. In the movie, Ahluwalia gets roughed up by police who see his turban and believe he’s a terrorist.
“What happened to my f—ing civil rights?” he rails at the officers. “I go to the airport, I can’t go through security without a ‘random’ selection.”