There is something of major importance that I would like to shed light on. Alot has happened in the last two years since 9/11. I will never forget that day. At that point I had just been here in Canada for about 3 months. I remember thinking that my dad was suppost to be on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania and thinking that it could be him. I think there is alot of ignorance today in the world and inside the US and Canada so I feel that its my place to post my thoughts and views from my point of view. I think most people underestimate how people have been profiled. Its really a pitty that a few bad seeds have ruined the futures of many. I will explain. You see I remember growing up in Palo Alto California during the gulf war. I faced so much racism and kids used to make fun of me left and right calling me names like "hassan hussein" and beating me up for no apparent reason. It was a very shaddy time in my life. I didn't really comprehend what was going on and why I was treated this way. I had never done anything wrong and I was always treated like shit for no apparent reason. Its was really messed up. I started to think that I should pretend that I am not of Iranian descent and that I should pretend to be something I am not. A full blooded American. I doubt that anyone can actually vouche for being such a thing cause I would beg to differ. As the years went by I realized that people were becoming more educated especially in high school. I remember sitting in my American Government class in high school listening to the intellectual debates about all sorts of stuff with my teacher Mrs. Maureen Mackled Schneider. She was a very influencial person in my life cause she taught me to really "not judge a book by its cover". I realized that I was very ignorant myself to a certain extent. And it wasn't until 9/11 that I realized that IGNORANCE is a much bigger problem than I had anticapated. About a week after 9/11 I remember going grocery shopping at the Safeway in Kitsilano here in Vancouver right by UBC (University of British Columbia). I was in the frozen food section grabbing something from the freezer when all of a sudden I realized something had hit my back. I turned around to find this fucking cunt come up to me and have the audacity to say "get the fuck out of my country you fucking terrorist". I was in such shock I thought I was going to pass out. Instead I took that shock and got really pissed and went after the bitch. I grabbed her arm as hard as I could and dragged the cunt to the front of the store and told a safeway employeee. They proceeded to call RCMP (Royal Canadian Mountain Police)kinda like a mountee... So as I was reporting this incident to the manager at safeway I saw an east Indian lady and her son walking up to the front of the store and the ladies son was screaming his head off. Apparently that same blond cunt I was refering to had went up to this poor kid and pinched him as hard as she could on his arm just cause of the colour of his skin. Obviously this was not justified. When I found out about this I was raging. I mean its ok for her to do that to me but not to that kid. Its not right!! Where do people come up with shit like that where they believe they can justify such actions. Anyhow about a month later I got a phone call from a mountee here in Vancouver and he was very appologetic and he told me that the same blond bitch had been prosecuted for her actions towards the little Indian kid. Then when I thought the worst was over I realized that this was just the beginning. A few days later I was out with a friend of mine in Yale town which is right by the "house of blues" here in Vancouver. I was walking back to my car when I was jumped out of the blue. A guy with a ski hate came up behind me and put a knife to my throat and said "get the fuck out of Canada you sand nigger piece of shit". As you can imagine I was freaking the fuck out. I told him to take my money and credit cards, cell phone and whatever he wanted as long as he was not going to hurt me. That goes to show that due to ignorance this asshole felt that he had some power over me since he felt that he was giving back to his community. And what community would that be? WHITE TRASH. I never found out who that guy was and for all I know he could still be out here on the streets of Vancouver. What a conforting though eh? It makes me so fucking mad when I think about all the ignorance here in Canada and even back home in the states. People really need to be educated especially at times like these. People automatically assume that all middle easterners are terrorists for some reason now when ever there is a terrorist threat or occurance. I would like to point out that Terry Macveigh the guy who blew up the Fedral building in OK City was an WHITE GUY (American). Another example would be Eric Randal Rudolf who blew up abortion clinics in Alabama and in Georgia... he was also the suspect involved in the Olympic park bombing when the Olympics were in Atlanta back in '96. I just wish people would realize that their are bad seeds in every culture and every socio economic background regardless of upbringing and locale. I find it really upsetting to myself that people don't realize this. I have never been arrested or in trouble with the law from day one. I admit I aint no saint but I don't fuck with people and I still feel like I am being watched and profiled constantly since 9/11. Shortly after 9/11 I was scared to drive across the border into the states cause I was always being profiled and grilled to the ultimate extent at every border crossing. So I finally went to my immigration lawyer and asked her what are my options. She refered me to the NEXUS border crossing program which is a program that is in conjunction with the RCMP and the FBI. This is a volentary program for people who travel across the US/Canadian border on a regular basis at least 3 times a week such as myself as I work in the border town of White Rock, BC which is right on the border with Blaine, Washington. Anyhow... upon getting my NEXUS pass many things changed for me. I was treated better and no one really fucked with me even though I am middle eastern. This NEXUS pass indicated that I am a "low risk traveller" so they would not grill me as much and I would pretty much be able to by pass customs for the most part. I have used this program for almost 1 year now until recently. About a month ago someone broke into my underground "secured" garage and got into my car. They stole my stereo, cds, US passport, and my border ID. I thought that by obtaining a police report I would be fine... shit I was sooo wrong. So I decided to go to Seattle on the spur of the moment to apply for another US passport so I could have all my papers in order to go back to California for a brief weekend to attend a high school reunion back in the Bay Area (northern california sf suburbs). So when I was on my way back to Canada I didn't have a worry in my mind cause I knew I had all the appropriate paper work to show custom officials both in Canada and in the US that I am legal here in Canada as a student. So when I got to the border crossing I came to realize that I was going to be "racially profiled". This didn't come as a surprise to me since I didn't have my border ID. So I proceeded into the customs building on the Canadian side of the border. I was held for over 4 1/2 hours and was grilled by over 5 customs agents. I was told that I was in breach of my student visa and that I wouldn't be able to enter Canada again. As you can imagine I was freakin out like no other. It wasn't until I got my attorney involved that they left me go and let me come back to Vancouver. Unfortunatly I was told that if I were to come back to the states in the near future I could be facing DEPORTATION cause the lady at Immigration Canada had profiled me some stupid reason. I had nothing to hid but she felt that I had something to hide. So she had customs officials take bomb sniffing/drug dogs come and sniff out my car and also had them take my labtop and look through all of my files cause they thought I looked suspicious for some apparent reason. The worst part was finding out that I was going to be stripped searched. I still don't know what their grounds were for doing such a thing. If that is not a violation I don't know what the fuck is??? You tell me!! So basically I just wanted to share my views and shed light on this situation. Next time you are travelling and you notice someone who looks suspicious put yourself in their shoes and see what its like. Remmber the golden rule from Kindergarden?? "treat people the way you want to be treated". Well its so true. Remember there are bad seeds everywhere and it is not a racial matter! I hope by sharing my story people will have a somewhat better understanding of all this racial profiling bullshit cause all its doing is raising animocity amoung INNOCENT individuals. In conclusion I just want to say "Don't judge a book by its cover" and as Jerry Springer says "until next time take care of yourself and each other"...FOOD FOR THOUGHT EH???