- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 1
-
Sparkle (1)
I've always been proud to be a woman of color. The diversity that sets me apart and unique from a totally different culture in the US which I now call home. But what if being colored go against your favor? This is how I felt going through the airport right before Christmas.
I never thought this would be an issue until I have to fly to California to visit my mom for the holidays. I'm full aware of this escalating issue with flying and TSA but my family and I were determined to spend the holidays with my mom, so we were totally up for the challenge!
I was prepared. So I thought..
At the airport, the spirit of Christmas slowly dissipated when we encountered the first TSA employee who was clearly already flustered from the influx of travelers going through her post. A male TSA employee was manning the flow of people going in through the x-ray belt. Our turn came to unload our stuffs on the belt. I was busy helping out my daughter unload hers when I heard the male TSA employee manning the gate, repeatedly telling me to remove my light sweater which is a matching sweater with my lounging pants. I wasn't even done helping my daughter when he insisted I go through the metal detector and made me go into this enclosed cubicle behind him. I was aghast!
I had no idea why I was asked to go there. Then I overheard him radioing someone to come to the gate. A few minutes after, a female TSA employee showed up and opened the locked door of the cubicle. I was too shocked to react. My only consolation was that the female TSA employee was very friendly and polite. She was brief and told me she was just going to pat down both my legs! Whaattt??? I thought.
Take note: I didn't even make the metal detector sound off to negate being patted down. As is the TSA protocol. And the reason I wore a lounging pants was because I THOUGHT it would save me the trouble of emptying pockets and no metal belt to deal with! Was I so wrong..
I looked back at the male TSA employee. He wouldn't even look at me. I still don't understand why he had me patted down. Did he really think I was hiding bombs under my lounging pants? Did I really look like I can be a terrorist because I was a colored person?
Up to this day, I still could not wrap my brain around why I was singled out. I'm proud of my color but I don't understand why some people judges us by our color..
Now wait till you find my experience at LAX on our way home. It gets better. They found two suspicious items that they thought could be bombs! Oh man...
Related Stories: What to know about TSA Protocol
Maricris
Check the rest of my Zensible Geek Life+style at http://ZensibleMama.com - Living Life Zensibly....
