Fear Factor

[Ivo Skoric]

A couple of days ago I needed to notarize my signature as a 
translator for a document that I translated. This is usually a pretty 
straighfoward job - I certify for the accuracy of translation and the 
notary certifies for the accuracy of my signature. But, this 
particular public notary refused to notarize that document.

I told him that this is a translation that a client of mine will use for 
his INS application. He was mesmerized with the fact that he does 
not actually understand the original that I translated, and he 
definitely did not want to put his name on anything that will 
eventually end up at the INS.

As I am always in the rush, and not known best for patience, I was 
quite displeased with this refusal, and I decided to grill him a little, 
asking him for his name and the telephone number of his office, 
just in case my lawyer wants to give him a call. Blood rushed into 
his face, screaming: "what lawyer, is there going to be a lawsuit 
now?"

His co-workers just watched quizzically. Eventually, he gave me a 
name: Fakar. Huh, things started falling into places, then. He is an 
Arab, all right. And Arabs in this society are increasingly becoming 
scared of their own shadows, as everybody else is getting scared 
of them. I listen regularly to my friend who works in the U.N., telling 
me how about everybody there is up on their tippy toes about what 
the proverbial Arabs may do next. And he probably saw himself 
detained under the Patriot Act, and possibly deported looking at 
me and at the papers I brought to him to notarize.

There was a notary public just a flight upstairs that notarized that 
translation with no problems, she even almost forgot to ask for 
money - a garrulous grandmotherly lady, that told me about her two 
tours in Vietnam as a medic. However, this incident pointed to a 
very sad development in American society - despite all the 
precautions, Arabs live in fear, and everybody else lives in fear of 
them.

ivo