A group of Muslim families had their nice outing together ruined when employees of the New York City Ferry in Brooklyn wouldn’t allow them to ride, citing an unknown “security issue.” This, all according to a discrimination complaint filed on the families’ behalf by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) with the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
According to the complaint on Sept. 21, the families—three American women, two of Pakistani descent, and their eight children—traveled in the afternoon from Brooklyn to Wall Street on the NYC Ferry. Their plan was to take the ferry to Wall Street and then head on to Governors Island to let the kids run around and play. They were having one last big outing as one of the families was going to be leaving to visit Pakistan for an extended time and the mothers wanted to get the children together for one last hurrah. It was at the Wall Street stop that they ran into problems.
Two of the mothers were wearing hijabs and full-length dresses that covered their arms and legs. Upon realizing it was getting late, they decided to switch up their trip and head back to Brooklyn, where the kids would have more time to play. After getting tickets, they realized the line back to Brooklyn was super long and as anyone with little kids will tell you, having a boring line to wait in with little kids is a special kind of nightmare for parents. The complaint says the women asked a NYC Ferry employee if they could set themselves up with their two strollers and kids down by the boarding area, saying they would board last, but out of people’s hair until then. They were told that was fine.
However, according to CAIR, once everyone had boarded, the first ferry employee—who had told them they could wait in the loading area—approached another NYC Ferry employee and the two had a conversation the families could not hear. After that conversation the new ferry employee refused them entrance on the boat.
The women were told by this employee that they were being refused entrance because security told him that there was a “security issue.” The families were then publicly escorted to the security office by a man they believed to be the head of security for Wall St. Ferry. Once at the office the personnel inside of the security office denied any knowledge of a security issue. After having an argument with another security employee they were told that they weren’t being admitted because some of their kids had stood on benches in the loading area.*
After two hours, the women and their families were allowed to return on the ferry home, their day ruined, and eight kids sitting around in a ferry terminal for hours instead of running around outside. That evening they filed a complaint, and NYC Ferry management conceded that the reason they were given was bogus, instead calling the whole thing a “misunderstanding.” The city offered to reimburse them for their tickets.
The women want a formal apology and are looking for financial restitution not only for the costs of their day but the emotional and psychological anguish they and their families suffered by being discriminated against and humiliated in front of others.
CAIR’s NY Litigation Director Ahmed Mohamed is quoted in a statement released by the group, saying "All New Yorkers, regardless of creed, deserve equal and fair service free of discrimination, especially when using public transportation like the NYC Ferry. These families were humiliated and traumatized in public view and treated as suspect because they happen to be Muslim. That is unacceptable. We hope the City will live up to its commitment of nondiscrimination and swiftly correct this injustice.”
He’s right.
*I can tell you from personal experience with my brothers and their families that this is not a real excuse. My kids have been in that very loading area and done everything but set a fire, and we have never even seen a side-eye glance from employees.