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Posted on 02/28/2007 4:36:48 PM PST by LibWhacker
Muslim cabbies refuse to bend in alcohol dispute
BLOOMINGTON: Dozens of Muslim cab drivers showed up for a hearing at a hotel near the Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport on Tuesday to protest against proposed penalties for cabbies who refuse service to passengers carrying alcohol.
“I am Muslim. I’m not going to carry alcohol,” Abdi Mohamed, a driver for Bloomington Cab, told a Metropolitan Airports Commission panel that gathered to hear public opinion on the proposals.
Commissioners are charged with setting a new policy by May, when airport licences for cab drivers are set to expire. Under the proposal, drivers who refuse service for any reason would have their licence suspended for 30 days. A second refusal would mean a two-year revocation of the licence.
According to airport officials, about 80 percent of their cabdrivers are Somali, who are predominantly Muslim. Last year, airport officials said alcohol-bearing passengers were being refused service an average of 77 times a month, though that figure dropped drastically after new airplane travel safety rules prohibited liquids in carry-on luggage.
In September, the commission proposed a compromise that would have let Muslim cabbies display a different-coloured light on their cab if they did not want to pick up passengers carrying alcohol.
But that proposal triggered a huge backlash, from both passengers and other taxi drivers who feared it would make travellers avoid taxis altogether. Soon the airport commission went the other direction, proposing the stiff penalties for cabbies who refuse service to alcohol-toting passengers.
“I don’t have a problem with people practising their religion,” said Douglas Bass of St Paul. “I don’t even have a problem with people who want everyone to believe what they believe. But I do have a problem when a majority is being forced to observe other religions and customs.”
The cabbies and their supporters left no doubt that they are not willing to bend on the alcohol issue.
Hassan Mohamud, a Muslim imam and adjunct law professor at William Mitchell College of Law, said the Muslim cab drivers are only trying to support their families, both here and in their strife-torn home country, and are being placed in an impossible situation.
Abdifatah Abdi, who said he is counselling cabdrivers on legal issues related to the controversy, warned commissioners that instituting the penalty would set off a long legal battle.
“This is a religious freedom issue, and it will not end here,” Abdi said. “It will go to the courts, even the Supreme Court. The drivers will not relinquish their rights to be protected under American law.” ap
Ban them from Airport, fire them.
I guess cabbies make a lot more money than I thought!
I must have missed the "right to be a cab driver" the last time I read the Bill of Rights.
What's next? We refuse to carry "infidels?" You are a public car for public hire, nimrods. If you want to drive a alki-free car, go back to Somalia - and look! There's a convenient airport for you to depart from!
Maybe I'm not understanding this properly, but it doesn't seem that the city should have the right to tell people who they can do business with. If I own a restaurant and I refuse to serve someone it's my choice, my business IMO. Same with cab drivers.
Maybe ALL the cabs are owned by ISLAMISTS in Minneapolis....????
Transportation services are generally regulated differently. T
I recall a lot of support here for pharmacists that refused to dispense the morning-after pill on religious grounds. Oh but wait, that was different.
Huh. Nevermind.
To add to my post on # 10. I remember a landscape company somewhere a few months ago that refused to do business with some gay people. Like I said then it's their business and they can serve who they want. If I own a cab and refuse to drive a drunk (or a Muslim) it's my right. So it applies to these cab drivers as well.
LOL! I've carried tactical wallets for years. You've just given me a reason to go back to leather. :-)
Sounds like someone has a prime opportunity to start a cab business there if that's the case.
see also:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1792293/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1792286/posts (dupe)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1764921/posts
(more background)
I wonder what would happen if these cabbies said that they were Christians, and as Christians, they refused to transport anyone with alcohol?
Wrong, wrong--it is the ordinary traveling person in the MN area that is being put in an impossible position. Did the flying public have these difficulties before the Muslims started driving the cabs in MN? Most likely not--it was the Muslims who brought a problem here for us (AGAIN!). It is a Muslim problem that can be best dealt with by sending them back to their country of origin.
Oh, they don't want to go back because of the war and strife--then learn to adapt, that is how humans thrive and progress. Progress, a commodity the Muslims are short on--that is why so many are content in their 7th century comfort zone.
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