Scary white men

Terror alert! Why haven't the Department of Homeland Security and George W. Bush raised our terror alert level to RED over the new menace to our American way of life: the gun-wielding, white men who are shooting up our public schools?\nAfter three school shootings in one week -- in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania's Amish country -- maybe we should be more concerned about the quiet, keeps-to-himself, white male next door who might decide to act on some repressed aggression and go out in Columbine-style infamy. Add to recent events the school shooting in Montreal, the 2005 rampage in Minnesota and the 2001 incident in Santee, Calif., and suddenly the threat of terror in public schools seems a little more menacing, unpredictable and significantly more likely than the threat of "Islamo-fascists" taking down another tall building or a plane.\nUnfortunately, since the Sept. 11 attacks, many Americans seem to think that in the interest of national security, racial profiling of people who appear to be of Middle Eastern descent is justified as a counter-terrorist effort. A USA Today opinion column claimed that racial profiling is "one discretionary investigative tool among many," and it is simply "unfortunate that loyal Muslims or Arabs might be burdened because of terrorists who share their race, nationality or religion." I guess all the Muslims in America just need to suck it up and take one for the team.\nIf we're going to call for increased surveillance of mosques and Muslim communities and if brown-skinned men should just expect to be screened at airports because they might look similar to Mohammed Atta, then why don't we also call for increased surveillance and searches of NRA conventions, white, suburban, gated communities or white men who wear trench coats?\nIf you think it's justified to feel a little uneasy when an Arab American sits next to you on the plane, why don't you feel a little skittish when a disheveled white boy slouches sullenly in the back corner of your public speaking class?\nThe problem with racial profiling is that it's so easy for white folks to target the "brown-skinned others" -- from Japanese internment camps to "driving while black" to "flying while Arab" -- but white people rarely consider the inconsistencies and incongruities. Start talking about the need to profile every sketchy white guy with a chip on his shoulder, and maybe we would comprehend the absurdity in claiming that racial profiling is ever justified.\nI am a very strong opponent of racial profiling. But if you insist on the patriotic necessity of this questionable (and racist) practice, then at least try to be consistent. The next time you smugly approve of the Muslim passenger getting wanded at airport security, be sure to look over your other shoulder and scan the room for crazy white guys. You never know when Timothy McVeigh II might make a farce of the battle cry that we don't want to fight terrorists on our own streets.