Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/15/tsa-officer-grabbed-native-ame.html
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9 Likes
WTF is wrong with people… DON’T DO THIS TO YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS, ASSHOLES… HOW FUCKING HARD IS THAT?
52 Likes
Set aside the Native American aspect for a second and this is still wildly inappropriate behavior. If this was just a random person that had braids the TSA “Officer” should still “get in trouble” for this. This is not a “chance to continue to educate our staff about the many Native American Tribes…” it should be a chance to educate them, and especially this specific “Officer”, about treating other human beings decently and with respect.
Now considering the causal racism on top of that and I can’t see how this is not a case for actual discipline and then maybe some education.
53 Likes
Came here to say exactly this. You’re already subjecting your fellow man to humiliation with the security process in general. People there are not suddenly your plaything. This would possibly be humiliating for anyone regardless of their background. That said it is even more so for Native Americans.
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I suspect that the woman being Native American has a good deal to do with this TSA officer believing she can treat her this way. I seriously doubt that a white woman would have gotten the same treatment.
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That’s the problem with some people given a bit of authority over others - they get that attitude, and act accordingly. To me, that shows the officer who did this needs to be in a different line of work.
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Yeah, bigotry aside this is just baffling, and completely unacceptable, behavior. What the hell?
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Yeah, I mean educating people about native american culture is great, but not really the relevant here. You don’t need to know anything about native american culture to know that isn’t appropriate behavior.
“Oh shit, I didn’t know your braids were important to your culture, if only I had known that I wouldn’t have grabbed and yanked them and pretended you were an animal” said no one ever.
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Native or not, who the fuck thinks that’s a good idea?
Thank gawd the TSA is keeping us safe from terroristic braids. Is there an eye roll emoji?
ETA 
Thanks, @anon61221983
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So you know better than the woman this happened to that this was not a racist act? It happened TO her, not you. She’s been a Native woman all her life, and has encountered racism before. I’m going to defer to her when she says she knows what that is, given that she’s likely an expert of these kinds of things and we’re not.
Women of color, especially Native women have a long history of being singled out for all sorts of blatant as well as less obviously so forms of humiliation on their bodies most especially, much more so than white women. Saying that YOU think it’s not racist is actually entirely immaterial here. YOU don’t get to make that judgement, because YOU don’t have to live in her skin and all that entails in this racist, sexist, shithole of a country.
18 Likes
Yep.
Might need giffening, tho…
Although I’m not sure I can get an eyeroll that’s angry enough for this shit…
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Agreed, but also:
That’s the sort of profession that gets one put on a list for extra harassment. I wonder what percentage of people with braids go through security without being fondled.
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Holy shit, what the hell is wrong with these people? How much of a trash person does someone have to be to even remotely think of doing this, let alone actually following through?
10 Likes
There’s this one - not quite, but seems appropriate:
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TSA? Truly Sickening Assholes?
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Okay… how is that appropriate?
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The kind who’s trash enough to sign up for a job as a jack-booted government thug?
In the sense of ‘are you fucking serious with this shit?’
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Which are often some of the best paying job with decent benefits in the area… If it’s that or working fast food, which do you think is a better option. Plenty of people work for an organization like the TSA and don’t do shit like this.
Okay.
6 Likes
