Who Do You Think I Am?

During my sophomore year, I went on a trimester abroad program with my school. When we reached the airport It was really early in the morning; it was so early that only a small number of people were checking into their flights. We had checked our bags in and began walking over to go through the TSA screenings. Everyone in our group made it through without any issues except for one of my white classmates who had set the scanner off. He took the change he had left in his pocket out and walked through the scanner again. It was no big deal. It was as if nothing had actually happened. When I went through the scanner, it went off because of some lint I had in my back pocket. I pulled the lint out of my back pocket and rather than walking through a second time as if nothing happened, I was pulled to the side and my hands were swabbed. The TSA officer held out metal tongs holding a large cotton ball, which he used to rub my palms. I asked him why he was swabbing me and the TSA officer said, “I’m checking to see if you’ve been exposed to explosives.” He then placed the cotton ball in a machine and waited. It made some noises, and then he told me I was good to go. I was shocked because right before I had gone through the scanner my friend had set it off and wasn’t pulled to the side and searched for explosive material. Then it hit me. This was the first time I was traveling with a beard. It had never occurred to me that because I had a beard I would be subjected to profiling.  It was demoralizing, I was embarrassed to tell my classmates why it took me so long to make it through the screening. “They checked me for a bomb,” I said with a half smile. I scoffed it off because I was going to Mexico and I wasn’t going to let this ruin my trip. Although it did leave a sour taste in my mouth.

When I returned home from Mexico, I shaved before my flight to see if I would be treated the same way as when I flew over with a beard. My thought was that I would have a different experience than what I had flying over. My prediction was correct, and I didn’t get stopped and swabbed by TSA. I was treated as an average U.S. citizen. Now I shave before flying so that I don’t attract unwanted attention. When flying, I need to prepare for a show and play my role as a white citizen. This means I shave and wear a button-down shirt before flying. I need to portray this image so that I am not perceived as a threat.

After that experience, I realized how demeaning it is to get pulled out and searched for something that I do not have. It’s like being cat called by some greasy guy on the street except that I’m in an airport and that greasy guy is actually a uniformed employee trained to pull out people with beards. I don’t get objectified the same way women do, but I feel that I have an awareness of the experience because of my travels. I can’t say that I know what it feels like because I’m not a female, but I’ve shared a similar experience. Being objectified for your appearance is something that people struggle with in their everyday lives. I’ve been profiled. It’s not something white people live their lives through. That statement isn’t true actually white people do get profiled but depending on the context they are almost alway given the benefit of the doubt. White people can be perceived as threats, but the majority of the population perceive people of color as a threats. In New York City there is a stop and frisk policy which is based on the premise of stopping and searching people based on appearance. These encounters are recorded as 250s on form. According to the New York Civil Liberty Union(NYCLU) In the first three quarters of 2015 18,351 people were searched, but 14,795 were completely innocent that’s 81%. Now out of 18,351 people who were registered by their racial groups: 9,709 (54 percent) were black, 5,292 (29 percent) were Latino and 2,075 (12 percent) were white. So it is possible for white people to be profiled and in this case they are searched, but the majority of the people searched are people of color. The police are searching people and still demanding that we give them respect. The police instill fear in people of color that white people just don’t feel on a daily basis, because their neighborhoods aren’t subjected to constant interjected surveillance. I lived in Washington Heights when I was younger, but my father and mother moved my brother and I downtown. Downtown has less constant police supervision because the white population is greater. I live on the border of where it’s considered sketchy and safe. I have never been written up for a 250, but I have friends who have been. When sharing their experiences with me I noticed that I used many of the same words when describing my experience with the TSA.  

  I haven’t reached a sensation of closure from this experience because it’s not the workers fault. It is what society has taught them to do. It is what the media has taught them to do. We see stereotypes all over the media about terrorists. They all have beards. But beards are amazing: they keep your face warm during the cold winter, they hold food for you to save for later and they are even amazing conversation starters. I do not want to called a terrorist because of my appearance. I do not want my friends or I to be stopped by police because we dress a certain way. Profiling people is based on mediated sources which distort our daily interaction by giving us, the viewer, a preconceived prejudice on the way each ethnic group acts. I went on my trip to Mexico to gain cultural awareness, but started my journey with being accosted with the media’s stereotype of a terrorist. I would like to implore “you” the reader to try and see the world through a different lens where you give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the student going on a class trip with a beard is not a terrorist, but a kid with bad taste in fashion.