Some of you may have heard that last week five Muslim fans alleged racial bias while attending a New York Giants game. The Boston Globe reported:

Five Muslim football fans were detained and questioned during a game [Sep. 19th] at Giants Stadium because they were congregating near an air duct on a night former President George H.W. Bush was in the stadium, the FBI said yesterday.

Some of the Muslims said they did not know they were in a sensitive area, and said they were subjected to racial profiling while they were praying, as their faith requires five times a day.

”I’m as American as apple pie and I’m sitting there and now I’m made to feel like I’m an outsider, for no reason other than I have a long beard or that I prayed,” said Sami Shaban, a 27-year-old Seton Hall Law School student who lives in Piscataway.

Come on, they are probably just being oversensitive, right? I was willing to give the FBI the benefit of the doubt:

FBI agent Steven Siegel, a spokesman for the bureau’s FBI office, said the men had aroused suspicion because they were congregating near the main air intake duct. Bush was in the stadium that night as part of a fund-raising campaign he and former President Bill Clinton were leading for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The site is now fenced off and is no longer accessible to fans.

Ok, no harm no foul. Then I read this article yesterday. Seems like this might be a pattern at Giants games, at least when there is a Bush in the house:

Two more men stepped forward Friday accusing authorities at Giants Stadium of racial profiling.

Mathew Varughese, 26, of Port Chester, and Pierre Mainville, 28, of Stamford, Conn., said they and four other men were unfairly questioned and detained by stadium police and the FBI during a Sept. 19 Giants-Saints game.

The incident happened the same day that five Muslim men were detained and questioned by authorities. Those men, who accused authorities of violating their religious rights, are considering whether to file a lawsuit. [Link]

Now I admit that I don’t have all the facts in the case, but it is still disturbing The people singled out were various shades of brown:

Varughese, Mainville, two of their friends and two men seated behind them were asked to leave their seats by stadium police, who said they had heard reports that the group was snapping photographs of the game.

“The problem was we didn’t have cameras,” said Varughese, an attorney.

They were then handed over to FBI officials who asked them about their nationalities and religious backgrounds, said Mainville, a financial analyst. Varughese and his cousin are Indian, Mainville is half black and half white, and their other friend is Dominican. All the men are Christian, Varughese said.

As they were escorted out of their seats, someone yelled out: “Go back to your country,” Varughese said. [Link]

They also allegedly asked the men…if they had been praying. [Link]

What makes me angry is that the system is set up to make abuse easy. In both cases the FBI said that someone reported “suspicious” activity. Let’s say that I am a bigot and I am sitting there watching the Giants game. I see a group of “browns” in front of me that I feel shouldn’t be at “my” game. I can easily abuse the system by calling it in. Problem solved and I can watch my game. “Suspicious people” should get the opportunity to confront the people that reported them if found to be innocent. That would cut down on this kind of thing, and both groups would be pulled from enjoying their game.

“We responded to a suspicious activity,” said FBI Spokesman Steven Siegel. “There are billboards out there, “If you see something suspicious, call this number.’ Someone was suspicious.” [Link]