By Abdirahman Aynte, The Center for Independent Media
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Minneapolis, MN (HOL)-After listening to emphatic appeals from proponents and opponents of a new taxicab ordinance at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the Metropolitan Airports Commission is considering increasing the penalty for drivers who refuse to transport alcohol-toting passengers because of religious concerns.
About 200, mostly Somalis, people packed a hotel room in Bloomington on Tuesday for a hearing that took more than four hours.
Airport director Steve Wareham said some drivers refuse to transport customers with service dogs. Others avoid short fares or passengers who pay with airline vouchers and credit cards.
One after another, taxi drivers denied refusing to carry people with service dogs. Abdinoor Dolal, a taxi driver who said he’s in favor of a penalty for “unauthorized fare refusals,” said the service dog issue is thrown into the debate “tendentiously.” More than 50 taxi drivers who attended the hearing clapped in support of Dolal when he offered a free ride to the 300 blind people with guide dogs who are expected to come to the Twin Cities for a convention in July.
The issue
The debate over fare refusals began a decade ago, but intensified during the past five years. The airports commission said it documented 5,222 fare refusals since 2002. Wareham said the commission “explored many options with the drivers but couldn’t reach a deal.”
In fact, the commission abruptly withdrew from a pilot deal that would have color-coded teetotaler drivers after receiving negative feedback from the public.
More than 70 percent of the airport’s 900 taxi drivers are Muslims from Somalia. Many say carrying visible alcohol would amount to sinning. But they emphatically deny “sniffing” passengers’ luggage.
If taxi drivers want to pick and choose their passengers, Wareham said, customers felt they should be able to do the same.
As for airline vouchers, taxi drivers said the hassle to cash vouchers often exceeds the fare. Dolal said he finally cashed Tuesday a $50 voucher he received Dec. 15. He even paid parking fees while cashing vouchers.
The rules
Taxi drivers who refuse a fare have to go back to the end of the line under the current rule. That would be changed to a 30-day suspension for the first offense and revocation of the license for two years for the second offense under the proposed ordinance.
Drivers and their advocates say that’s unnecessarily too harsh.
Imam Hassan Mohamud of St. Paul said the proposed ordinance is “unduly harsh.” He said the drivers are asking for a “reasonable accommodation.”
‘Discrimination’
Proponents and opponents of the proposed ordinance said they face discrimination. Rebecca Kragnes, president of Minnesota Guide Dog Users, said blind people like her are facing “overt refusals” and “covert refusals.”
The first is when a driver blatantly refuses to carry animals. The latter, she said, is when a driver seamlessly bypasses a blind person with a dog. “Though both forms of refusals are bad, the latter is particularly frustrating for blind people and is hard to detect.” she said.
Ahmed Shine, a taxi driver for seven years, described the ordinance as a blatant discrimination against hard-working immigrants.
“When I was coming to America 10 years ago,” he said, “I was told by American officials I wouldn’t be discriminated against in this country, but now it is happening.”
Shine and other drivers disparaged two signs that read, “Separation of Mosque & Airport,” and “No Shar’ia in Minnesota.” Douglas Bass of St. Paul said he made the signs. Some of the drivers staged a sunset prayer near the signs.
Different interpretations
Muslim scholars have varying interpretations for the broad text that bans Muslims from alcohol. Imam Mohamud of St. Paul said pious Muslims should avoid transporting “visible alcohol.”
But the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of Minnesota, which includes more than 10 imams, previously issued an edict calling for Muslim drivers to transport “all customers,” regardless of “what they carry or who they’re with.”
The airports commission will make a final decision sometime in April. If approved, the ordinance will take effect May 11.
Abdirahman Aynte can be reached at Ceynte@hiiraan.com
Source: HOL, Mar 01, 2007
