TSA says machines, not racial profiling, dictate invasive hair pat-downs of many black women
newsdepo.com
It’s a complaint few white women and even fewer men would think about: Black women complain that they are frequently pulled aside to have their hair patted down at airport security checkpoints. Unpleasant, invasive, and—anecdotally—all too common. ProPTSA says machines, not racial profiling, dictate invasive hair pat-downs of many black women
It’s a complaint few white women and even fewer men would think about: Black women complain that they are frequently pulled aside to have their hair patted down at airport security checkpoints. Unpleasant, invasive, and—anecdotally—all too common. ProPublica reports that the issue may be less about personal discrimination and more about deficient technology. TSA has asked vendors to help “improve screening of headwear and hair in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act” because the current, extremely expensive scanners used in airports struggle with thick hair, wigs, and turbans, leading to disparate outcomes. When ProPublica solicited people’s stories of having their hair patted down, more than 90 percent of responses came from women and 311 out of 720 came from black people. ”With black females, the scanner alarms more because they have thicker hair; many times they have braids or dreadlocks,” a TSA officer told ProPublica. “Maybe, down the line, they will be redesigning the technology, so it can tell apart what’s a real threat and what is not. But, for now, we officers have to do what the machine can’t.” That means that, for now, black women are disproportionately subjected to this creepy experience. “At this point in my life I have come to expect it, but that doesn’t make it any less invasive and frustrating,” one woman said. “When you find yourself in that kind of situation, it makes you wonder. Is this for security, or am I being profiled for my race?” And the thing is, even if it’s a machine making the call, the fact that the TSA has only recently started looking into remedies for the problem is significant: If white men were disproportionately being pulled aside to have someone probe their hair, the fix probably would have come a lot sooner. For that matter, would machines have been released on the market and made the national standard, at great expense, if they couldn’t adequately screen white men? Read more