TSA Discriminating Against Locks, Will Do Training

[orangeblossom]

Sigh.  I have virtually little to no hair at any given moment, and I cannot tell you how many times, I've had extra hands-on/hair screening.  One time, I'm glad my instant reflex to swing didn't kick in, because I'm walking away to grab my stuff off the belt, and an agent just started feeling in my hair.  I was like what in the world.

cookiemdough thejackpot NitaX meshaliuknits redwino iammalcolmx @helenabonhamcarter @wandering nuggetbrain

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/airport-black-women-hair_n_6956290.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 26 (Reuters) - Two black women who said their hairstyles made them targets for airport security pat-downs said on Thursday the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had agreed to stop singling out women for screening based solely on their "sisterlocks."



Malaika Singleton, a neuroscientist based in Sacramento, said she was on her way to London last year for an academic conference on dementia when a TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport began pulling and squeezing her hair.



"I was going through the screening procedures like we all do, and after I stepped out of the full body scanner, the agent said, 'OK, now I'm going to check your hair,'" Singleton said on Thursday.





The same thing happened when she passed through the Minneapolis airport on her way back home, Singleton said.



She contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, and it turned out that one of the lawyers there, a black woman who also wears the tiny, stylized form of dreadlocks known as sisterlocks had the same experience - twice.



Novella Coleman, the ACLU attorney, had already filed a complaint about the practice in 2012, to no avail, Coleman said on Thursday. She filed another complaint based on Singleton's experience, and on Thursday the two women said that the agency had agreed to conduct anti-discrimination training sessions with its officers to avoid what they called racial profiling of hair.



"The first time I was on a trip with colleagues, some other attorneys who were white and Latina," said Novella Coleman, the ACLU lawyer who filed the complaint.



"The woman said, 'I need to search your hair now,' and she just started grabbing my hair and squeezing it from top to bottom," Coleman said. Her white and Latina colleagues underwent no such searches, she said.



Asked the reason for the search, Coleman said she was given a variety of explanations. One officer said all passengers with hair extensions were searched, but Coleman wasn't wearing extensions. Another said people are searched if they have "abnormalities" in their hair, she said.



Other black women have had similar experiences, she said.



David A. Castelveter, a spokesman for the TSA, said the agency had no immediate comment on Thursday night.



Coleman said it was not immediately clear what kind of training the TSA planned for its staff.

[thejackpot]

Well I thought we just clarified that hair is never seen as threatening. Nothing to see here. Please don't confuse us with studies, facts or news reports.

But for real. This shit should get old at some point.

[karinothing]

I hope all the ladies from Dallas with their gigantic hair get them same treatment.

[meshaliuknits]

My initial reaction:



After that:

1) WTF is the point of those scanners if you're still gonna need to run your fingers through my hair and jack up my do?

2) What is she gonna hide in her locs? Garrote wire? She ain't gonna be able to get it back out since y'all don't let us take scissors on the plane.

3) This is partially why I tie my hair up when I fly. That and I don't want the person in the uncomfortably close seat next to me laying of my hair unintentionally.

[tacosforlife]

Mar 27, 2015 15:08:59 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I hope all the ladies from Dallas with their gigantic hair get them same treatment.

Not as long as they're white.

Not really kidding. Granted it was pre-9/11, but I flew the day after my senior prom. It was early, so I left my hair up in my updo with eighty bagillion bobby pins. I actually set off the metal detector. I told the agents I had probably 50 bobby pins in my hairs. The dudes were like, "FIFTY? Oh god, just go on."

[charminglife]

What's the point of spending so much $$ on those advanced imaging body scanners if they can't pick up objects in someone's hair? #securitytheater

[iammalcolmx]

I have Pre-check no one touches me.

[katfco]

I've had my braid squeezed before, but they always told me what they were doing and never just grabbed it.

[mich1]

Mar 27, 2015 15:19:47 GMT -5 charminglife said:

What's the point of spending so much $$ on those advanced imaging body scanners if they can't pick up objects in someone's hair? #securitytheater

This is a question that has me wondering.

I have 2 prosthetic hips.  Both hips are identical brands/materials/sizes, done within 3 months of each other.  One lights up on the image in a body scan, one does not.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 27, 2015 16:00:06 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Mar 27, 2015 15:19:47 GMT -5 charminglife said:

What's the point of spending so much $$ on those advanced imaging body scanners if they can't pick up objects in someone's hair? #securitytheater

This is a question that has me wondering.

I have 2 prosthetic hips.  Both hips are identical brands/materials/sizes, done within 3 months of each other.  One lights up on the image in a body scan, one does not.

It's consistently the same hip? I wonder if there was a slight manufacturing change that accounts for it. Weird.

[mich1]

Mar 27, 2015 16:08:05 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Mar 27, 2015 16:00:06 GMT -5 mich1 said:

This is a question that has me wondering.

I have 2 prosthetic hips.  Both hips are identical brands/materials/sizes, done within 3 months of each other.  One lights up on the image in a body scan, one does not.

It's consistently the same hip? I wonder if there was a slight manufacturing change that accounts for it. Weird.

Yep.  The serial numbers on my hips are very close together, so can't imagine what sort of manufacturing change would have been made.  My surgeon ordered my second hip when he ordered my first.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 27, 2015 16:15:31 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Mar 27, 2015 16:08:05 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

It's consistently the same hip? I wonder if there was a slight manufacturing change that accounts for it. Weird.

Yep.  The serial numbers on my hips are very close together, so can't imagine what sort of manufacturing change would have been made.  My surgeon ordered my second hip when he ordered my first.

Bizarre! If we can find out what the difference is maybe we can all be invisible to those things.

[mich1]

The only thing I can think of is the amount of scar tissue I have is greater on the hip that does not light up. That hip had 5 surgeries to the other hip's 4.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 27, 2015 16:20:08 GMT -5 mich1 said:

The only thing I can think of is the amount of scar tissue I have is greater on the hip that does not light up. That hip had 5 surgeries to the other hip's 4.

Hmmm, I'm not willing to scar up all this foxy for invisibility. I'll just have to get this for my hair to discourage touchers.

[mich1]

Mar 27, 2015 16:27:05 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Mar 27, 2015 16:20:08 GMT -5 mich1 said:

The only thing I can think of is the amount of scar tissue I have is greater on the hip that does not light up. That hip had 5 surgeries to the other hip's 4.

Hmmm, I'm not willing to scar up all this foxy for invisibility. I'll just have to get this for my hair to discourage touchers.

Smart move!  Scar tissue is highly overrated.  

[pt716]

Mar 27, 2015 15:19:47 GMT -5 charminglife said:

What's the point of spending so much $$ on those advanced imaging body scanners if they can't pick up objects in someone's hair? #securitytheater

For some weird reason my wrists and shoulders set it off a lot. Which I find amusing when I am wearing a sleeveless shirt or dress, since you can clearly see nothing is there, but they always pat it down anyway.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 27, 2015 16:32:19 GMT -5 pt716 said:

Mar 27, 2015 15:19:47 GMT -5 charminglife said:

What's the point of spending so much $$ on those advanced imaging body scanners if they can't pick up objects in someone's hair? #securitytheater

For some weird reason my wrists and shoulders set it off a lot. Which I find amusing when I am wearing a sleeveless shirt or dress, since you can clearly see nothing is there, but they always pat it down anyway.

In case you're wearing special effects level make up and have a teeny tiny weapon right below?

[LoveTrains]

Mar 27, 2015 15:27:03 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I have Pre-check no one touches me.

They actually waved me into the pre-check line at SEA-TAC on Monday and it was amazing. I am totally signing up for global entry or nexus shortly so I can get pre-check every time. I didn't have to take off my shoes!!! I got to leave my laptop in my bag! 

[zoegirltx]

i remember back in the early days of hte scanner, I'd get my hair frisked occasionally. I laughed at them patting down my teeny tiny ponytail, but i'm guessing the rubberband set off something??

[mich1]

Mar 27, 2015 16:57:00 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Mar 27, 2015 15:27:03 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I have Pre-check no one touches me.

They actually waved me into the pre-check line at SEA-TAC on Monday and it was amazing. I am totally signing up for global entry or nexus shortly so I can get pre-check every time. I didn't have to take off my shoes!!! I got to leave my laptop in my bag! 

I have Pre-check (Nexus) and because I ALWAYS set off whichever detector I go through, they still pat me down, regardless of airport.

BTW.....pre-check is not available in all airports, and you still have to take your computer out of the bag and take off your shoes if they don't.

[taratru]

Sweet lord I hate security theater. I had a hair tie in my pocket last time (all fabric, no metal), and it set off the sensor, sending me to get my hands swiped for bomb residue.

From a hair tie.

[darkling_glory]

If my hair is up in a bun (which is usually what I go to when flying) I always get my hair felt up. I'm white, but second generation Italian and I always supposed it's because I look Middle Eastern.

Also, two out of three times I get "randomly" pulled for extra screening.

[sushi]

I'm a white girl who's had my curls patted down. It's probably because I shop in the "ethnic" aisle.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 27, 2015 20:08:52 GMT -5 sushi said:

I'm a white girl who's had my curls patted down. It's probably because I shop in the "ethnic" aisle.

They can smell the Shea butter on you.

Sent from my EVO

[pt716]

Mar 27, 2015 16:40:34 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Mar 27, 2015 16:32:19 GMT -5 pt716 said:

For some weird reason my wrists and shoulders set it off a lot. Which I find amusing when I am wearing a sleeveless shirt or dress, since you can clearly see nothing is there, but they always pat it down anyway.

In case you're wearing special effects level make up and have a teeny tiny weapon right below?

Lol, I guess so. My bare arms might be dangerous.

[sushi]

Kinky curly has a definite smell

[decemberwedding07]

I'm white, but I have thick hair and I almost always get a hair pat down. If my hair is in a bun, it gets squeezed. I have awesome hair, though, so I think part of it may just be that everyone wants to touch it, but TSA agents actually have an excuse to do so.

[Nonny]

Another curly haired white girl who always gets her hair/head patted down. But I refuse to go through the EZ Porn Ovens, so I'm guaranteed a pat down if I can't get myself into a metal detector only line and have to opt out.

[MrsAxilla]

Mar 27, 2015 18:19:29 GMT -5 taratru said:

Sweet lord I hate security theater. I had a hair tie in my pocket last time (all fabric, no metal), and it set off the sensor, sending me to get my hands swiped for bomb residue.

From a hair tie.

We had an early am flight several months ago, and my sweet, sleepy, white family were practically the only ones going through security.  They "randomly" swiped my hands for bomb residue, and it CAME UP POSITIVE!!  WTF?  I showered right before I left home and the only thing(s) I touched were the baby and surfaces IN the airport.  I was taken to a private room and practically stripped searched - twice!  First by some 20 year old agent, and then by her supervisor.  There were also several other young female agents observing.  I swear to God, the only reason I was targeted was because they need to train their young agents.  Meanwhile, DH is by himself with the baby and the kiddo, the stroller, car seat, carry-ons and they were telling him to leave the security area and head for the gates.  He's like, "I only have two hands; where is my wife?!?"  It took an HOUR for these shennanigans and we almost missed our fucking plane.  The gate agent chastised us for not getting there early enough.  Fuck off, bitch.  So angry!

[Deleted]

Mar 27, 2015 18:54:12 GMT -5 darkling_glory said:

If my hair is up in a bun (which is usually what I go to when flying) I always get my hair felt up. I'm white, but second generation Italian and I always supposed it's because I look Middle Eastern.

Also, two out of three times I get "randomly" pulled for extra screening.

I'm white and look nothing but white.  If my hair is in a ponytail it gets checked every single time.


ETA: I also get extra screening a lot.  We went to Italy last year and between our trips there and back we went through 6 TSA screens.  I was pulled aside for additional screening at every single one.