The Transportation and Security Administration is in the headlines again for a change, this time for getting in an airline passenger’s hair, literally.
Laura Adiele was told by TSA agents after she submitted to a full-body scan at Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport on June 30 that they were going to need to inspect her “poofy” hair, which was up in a bun. Adiele objected, telling the agent, “No, we're not going to do that today and you're going to have to get security or your supervisor."
Later, on MSNBC's Jansing & Co., she enlarged upon her reaction, stating:
It's just totally a violation of my personal space and my biggest question is if ‘I'm going through a full body X-ray what more do you need to find after that?’
For me, my hair is my breaking point.
Adiele’s argument is unimpeachable. Once a passenger has agreed to a full-body scan, especially one using the controversial advanced-imaging technology, how much more should he or she be expected to endure in the name of security?
And if the narrative ended there … it would hardly be news. Let’s face it: In the annals of TSA indiscretions, tousling a traveler’s hair, though invasive, pales next to the real “horror” stories, such as bursting a cancer patient’s urostomy bag or traumatizing a rape victim by groping her breasts or—most recently—requiring a terminally ill, 95-year-old woman to remove her adult diaper.
Adiele’s complaint seems to be more than scalp-deep. As she revealed during her MSNBC interview:
I just cannot stand it because every day somebody has their hand in my hair or they’re comparing it to Buckwheat or Aunt Jemima, and it just gets exhausting….
The real issue appears to be that Adiele, who is black, suffers from a persecution complex and believes she is the recipient of some of the most overt and heinous racial slurs imaginable in this day and age.
This diagnosis is confirmed later in the interview, when she reports:
I had TSA agents laughing at me while I was standing there, I was barefoot, everyone was watching, it was really uncomfortable for me….
Lest there is any doubt she views herself as a victim of racism, she continues, brazenly admitting:
I played the race card in this just because I looked around and didn't see anyone else being searched in that way. And at the end of it, I had an African-American flight attendant come up to me and say that she's had this experience and that she's seeing it more frequently and that she thought I should complain about it.
As usual, the TSA issued a statement absolving its agents from any wrongdoing, claiming they reserve the right to screen a passenger's "clothing, headwear or hair where prohibiting items could be hidden," even as Adiele correctly there is nothing "about hair in the guidelines posted on TSA's website."
As for Adiele's grievance, she notes, "I've sent a complaint and I haven't heard anything back. The whole thing just seemed kind of fishy to me."
I couldn’t agree more.
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