Minneapolis-St. Paul To Get Tough With Muslim Hacks Who Refuse Service . . . .

The Stiletto ^ | January 5, 2007 | The Stiletto

[theothercheek]

Officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport asked the Metropolitan Airport Commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend the airport licenses of Muslim cab drivers who refuse service to passengers carrying alcohol or accompanied by service dogs. Each month, some 100 people are denied cab service at the airport on religious grounds, and the problem is getting worse, according to airport officials.

Drivers would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and revoked for two years after the second offense. The cabbies would be subject to the new penalties by May 11, when airport taxi licenses are scheduled for annual renewal.

Last year, the Metropolitan Airport Commission received a fatwa from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota that forbade taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol so as to avoid "cooperating in sin according to Islam."

“Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean,” Hassan Mohamud, imam at Al-Taqwa Mosque of St. Paul, tells The Associated Press. Mohamud, who is also director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, plans to petition airport officials to reconsider their proposal.

The First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one’s religion. It does not guarantee the right to drive a hack, or to refuse service to someone of a different faith, or to refuse service to someone who needs the assistance of a service animal. Muslim immigrants to the US are clearly unfamiliar with the American concept that “Your rights end where mine begin.” For more than 230 years, this guiding principle has protected our uniquely ecumenical and pluralistic country from the sectarian, ethnic and racial strife Muslims finance, stoke and engage in worldwide.

Instead of trumpeting trumped-up charges of “anti-Muslim backlash,” The Stiletto thinks the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) would better serve the Muslim community in America by educating them on religious tolerance, respecting the rights of others and showing compassion to a blind person shivering in the chill of the Minnesota winter waiting for a taxi who will take him and his dog home from the airport.

NOTE: Original source includes links to relevant articles and Web sites.

[1rudeboy]

I have the right to offer you transport service using my car, and you have the right to accept, but I also have the right to refuse you service just as you have the right to refuse to accept service.

That's not the way it works in the taxi world. Cab-drivers are (in most cases) obligated to offer a ride to anyone that asks, as a condition of their license.

I once saw a doorman at a hotel in Chicago get into a fist-fight with a cabbie who tried to reject one couple because they weren't traveling far enough, but expected to keep his place in line at the cabstand.

[Zeroisanumber]

Personally, I think that anyone owning and operating a business (inlcluding a taxi) should have the right to refuse service to anyone. If they don't want to make the money, someone else will.