I was flying to Vancouver last weekend and was elated that my boarding pass said that I have fast TSA check in. This means I get to go through a faster line at security and do not have to take off my shoes and belt. This shaves at least 10 minutes and rid of lot of hassle at a crazy airport like LAX. The security line was as smooth as promised. I put my bags on the conveyor belt and waked thru the metal check with my shoes on expecting I will be done in another 10 seconds or so.
The conveyor belt stopped! The young lady TSA agent checking the x-rays of the bags picked up one of my bag and shouted to the young guy standing behind me: "Is this your bag, sir?" The young man looked puzzled and said no. I raised my hand and said this is my bag. The agent looks at me with a relief look and asked: "Oh, do you have an old style phone?" I said yes, I do. She took my flip phone out of the bag and the short line and all the TSA agents broke out in hearty laughter. I said to the young agent and the young man: "Yeah, my kids laugh at me all the time." He then asked if I can text on that phone since he is not familiar with it. Again laughter all around.
Besides the mild humiliation, I found it interesting that a flip phone would look suspiciously like some kind of dangerous device. I guess young people don't even know what a flip phone is! Also, if the agent look at the order of the people in line and the order of the bags, it would be most likely that the bag belonged to me. Yet, she barked at the young man behind me in the line. Well, not surprisingly, he is brown skin with a beard. So there was obvious profiling here. Once she realized that the bag belonged to me, the tension was gone, the young man was relieved, and everybody had a good laugh. I am glad that I, as an old Asian man, am not of the demographic that is deemed dangerous. But what of the young brown men?
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
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As funny as your post is (and it could possibly the funniest one you've ever done), it's a little disturbing that the man behind you could have been profiled. Though I'd rather be safe than sorry. I think my brother in-law, who has a beard and has some middle eastern traits, even though he is supposedly not middle eastern in heritage was confronted by security at the airport many years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, your wife was pulled aside from TSA once. She must look like a terrorist!
So to all you brown skinned people and people who might look like a middle eastern person, my advice to you is make sure you get with the 21st century and get a smart phone!
-LBOAYM