Posted on 06/02/2007 3:56:19 PM PDT by milestogo
Muslim taxi drivers refusing customers with alcohol
MINNEAPOLIS: Some Muslim taxi drivers in Minnesota have drawn the ire of airport authorities for refusing to pick up customers carrying alcohol.
The cabbies, many of them Somali, have shut their doors to more than 5,200 customers who landed at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport since 2002.
They’ve also refused a number of customers in the city who want to bring a bottle of wine or liquor home with their groceries.
Most were able to get another taxi, but scores were left standing at the curb or unceremoniously dumped on city streets when the cabbies found out, mid-ride, that there was booze in their baggage.
With nearly 50,000 Somali immigrants, Minnesota is fast becoming a testing ground for such assimilation issues, including flare-ups involving Muslim store cashiers who don’t want to scan pork at the check-out counter.
Steve Wareham, director of Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, said the influx of Somalis since the 1990s, most of whom are Muslim, has led airport authorities into un-chartered territory. “It’s unique in that we haven’t found a problem like this in any other airport or city in the world,” Wareham said. For years, drivers who refused customers at the airport simply lost their place in line.
The airport started trying to negotiate a better system two years ago as customer complaints kept mounting. About a year ago, a group of local imams issued a fatwa calling alcohol “the mother of all evils” and telling taxi drivers that it was not permissible for cabbies to transport customers with alcohol “because it involves cooperating in sin”.
While some Muslim drivers ignored the fatwa, others became more vigilant. A terminally ill woman and her father complained that about three cabbies turned them down after an imam spotted a box marked California wine amongst their luggage and alerted the drivers.
On May 11, the airport enacted tough penalties for cabbies, who refuse riders. A first offense lands a 30-day suspension of the driver’s licence to operate at the airport. Subsequent offenses bring a two-year revocation. The decision was met with anger and threats of a legal challenge.
“It really has messed up our lives completely,” said Abdinoor Ahmed Dolal, a 32-year-old Kenyan immigrant and spokesman for many Muslim cabbies. “People are furious about this,” Dolal added.
Airport officials say drivers who don’t want to transport alcohol should try another line of work and even held a job fair to help dissatisfied drivers find other jobs.
Nobody knows exactly how many drivers have refused to carry passengers with alcohol, but the number of complains are small. Less than one percent of the airport’s 2,000 daily rides are refused because of alcohol, officials said.
Even that tiny percentage is too much for Jack Lanners, chairman of the Metropolitan Airports Commission. He rejects claims that such accommodations should be made for taxi drivers’ religious beliefs. “It’s not an accommodation issue, it’s a service issue,” Lanners told AFP. “If your job is to take people from one point to another, i.e. in a taxi, then you’d think you’d be qualified,” he added.
So far, nobody has violated the new ordinance, although a few cabbies refused to renew their six-month licences after being asked to sign affidavits saying they would pick up all customers.
“We are not comfortable carrying alcohol but they force us,” said Abdi Barir, a 24-year-old immigrant who operates an airport taxi. “It really bothers me but I don’t want to lose my job,” Barir said. afp
They need an influx of at least 300 angry drunk Americans flooding their cabs at one time. Isn’t that what we are told? Don’t drive and drink? Call a cab?
“I can’t wait to see what happens when those cabs start using ethanol and butanol as fuel. :)”
They probably ARE running at least 10% now. Especially in the summer months.
It is un-American to not eat pork and drink lots of alcohol, they should make it a law such that failure to eat pork and drink alcohol is a crime punishable by deportation.
What about Christian Ethiopian taxi drivers?
I can’t wait to see what happens when those cabs start using ethanol and butanol as fuel. :)
They should turn in their keys now, all gasoline sold in Minnesota contains alcohol, so unless they are driving a diesel they already are carrying alcohol.
Hey, buddy, here’s how it works here: You want that job, you do ALL of it. But no one will make you do it. Just take your sorry rag-butt outta there and then you won’t have to do it. Just as easy as that.
In a SANE world, militant Imam following Muslims would be barred from ANY job that took them near an airport or any other sensitive locations — especially while in control of a potential CAR BOMB like a cab...
F’em....
If they can’t play by OUR rules/laws — they can hit the road or f’ing starve to death....
We sure as hell don’t NEED them....
I suggest that every passenger exiting the terminal be gifted with a complimentary bottle of booze and a free ham. Let the cabbies then choose their fares among those who refuse it. Not much business for the muzzie cabbies to compete for, I would bet.
Pakis have been selling alcohol in this country for decades, and it’s never been a problem to them (the big problem is that they have probably been sharing some of their take with various Islamist fruitcakes in the Old World).
This whole “Muslims can’t be near alcohol” routine has been cooked up to assert their importance, power and cultural dominance in that city.
I'm sure it was so much better in Kenya.
Abdinoor is a liar anyway. It's known that this is not a problem anywhere else, even in Arab countries. The goal is to get us to bend over. What better place to try than with the stupid liberals in Minnesota.
This may sound terrible, but whatever happened to the KKK? So against Blacks and Jews, but I never hear a peep from them about muslims.
This is the magic bullet. Everyone in Minneapolis should tell the taxi drivers that they have alcohol. The guys will get no fares and make no money. Then they will have to quit driving.
Who in Minnesota had their eyes closed while 50,000 “immigrants” filed in the door?????
Typical Minnesota dhimmicrats and liberals, that’s who.
Minneaoplis is one of the most liberal cities outside the left coasts.. Not far behind Madison Wisconsin. Minnesota, outside of Minneapolis, is a great state with hard working common sense people. Unfortunately Minneapolis carries the day.
Most of them are Hindu though. Nothing against alcohol in that religion.
That being said, I thought that it was the **consumption** of alcohol or pork that was against religious belief? Like meat on Fridays for the old-school Catholic or caffeine for LDS, and other religious beliefs that forbid alcohol or certain foods. How is someone carrying a bottle of wine against *their* religion???
Hey, if I couldn’t stand naked or near-naked people, I wouldn’t do massage for a living. I wouldn’t expect my client to keep all their clothes on for *me*. I would find another line of work. I can see not wanting to pick up an intoxicated person if they seem belligerent (hey, we don’t allow intoxicated people in our shop either.) But I don’t tell them they can’t drink any other time. Geez...
A taxi business is a public franchise for common carriers. As such it is a quasi monopoly granted by government. Public franchises are subject to regulation as to reasonable rates and conditions in the service of the public. They are different from a private business. Can’t meet the conditions? - revoke the license. And so it has been for bridges, ferries, livery and taxis for many centuries.
Persons seeking Taxis in this town should ask , if they think
they might be one of this group :
“Excuse me , do you happen to be Muslim ?”
“ yes, sir or maam”
“ok , thanks , but I choose to seek another taxi”
The public in this city can stop this cold by using this tactic . Why give them one penny? Let them go be taxi drivers back in Somalia or wherever else in hell they come from.
Disallow ALL future moslem immigration , no exceptions
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