Letter to the Senator

Today I sent a letter to my Senator (both of them, in fact).  Here is the text:

Dear Senator,

This is the first letter I have ever written to a congressman.  (apart from that which I may have written in elementary school!)  I am compelled to write to you on this subject as I can no longer ignore the feelings behind it nor the gravity of the situation.

This is about the rights and freedoms of American Citizens being stripped away.  It is getting worse and it has got to stop.

I am currently on my first flight in 3 years and am appalled at what is happening.  I doubt that I have need to describe to you what the current procedures are and the new equipment they have at airports, so let us not discuss that.  Indeed, I did some reading before the flight and caught some of the buzz in the news.  However, sometimes it takes experiencing something first hand to fully appreciate it.

After going through security, I looked back to see the following:  An elderly lady, wheel chair bound was being put through a pat-down.  As she could not stand, she was forced to awkwardly hold herself up on the wheelchair armrests – so the government employees could frisk her.  Her thin arms shook violently at being called upon to support her body weight.  The strain was written across her forehead.  I thought, what if that was my grandmother?

Dear Senator – Why are American Citizens being treated like criminals?

Mind you, I too, had my body touched in ways that could be considered sexual assault.  I too suffered the humiliation of what Bruce Schneier calls security theater.  I refused to go through the machine.  I refused not so much for health concerns, but for the principle of the matter.

Have you heard about the 4 year old that was frisked?  Apparently, her parents made the mistake of instilling in her that strangers should not be allowed touch her private parts.  My understanding is that she panicked and screamed.  There are many more similar examples.

And so, I beg you for your audience in this issue.  We need to do something about this, but I’m not sure what.  Writing a letter seemed like a good first step.  Perhaps as my representative, you can oppose this dehumanizing treatment on all fronts.  Furthermore, I would be delighted to hear back from you.

Finally, while this may be my first letter, I suspect that it shall not be my last.

With all due respect,

Michael Kolakowski

I'll let you all know if I get any response!