Can we beleive this? Yes I'm afraid we can. From the early edition of the Washington Post.
TSA Tension At a BWI Gate

Sunday, January 21, 2007


On a Saturday evening late last month, my sister and I had a flight out of Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. We arrived the recommended two hours early and made it through check-in and security at Concourse D in just a few minutes, with no problems.

But when we got to the gate we were told that the flight was delayed by 45 minutes. Suddenly, we had 2 1/2 hours to kill. We went back out through the Concourse D security checkpoint to get dinner, after the security guard at the gate had assured us that it would not be a problem.

After eating dinner at Bill Bateman's Bistro, we attempted to go back through the Concourse D security checkpoint, where a different security guard began taking apart my belongings -- a backpack and tote bag -- the ones that had gone through security once, without issue. She singled out a number of items, all solid, all under three ounces, all in compliance with Transportation Security Administration requirements. She told me that I could not bring these items with me without a separate baggie.

When I asked for one of the baggies that she had right next to her, she told me that she "would not give a white ..... like you a bag" and sent me to a newsstand to buy one. The cashier at the newsstand directed me to an airport employee, who gave me a Ziploc bag.

I tried, once again, to go through the Concourse D security checkpoint, past the same guard who had stopped me before. She was the only one on duty. I was the only traveler being inspected. My sister had gone through already, without issue, with many of the same items (unbagged) that I had. The same security guard told me the bag I had been given was the wrong type of bag, called me "white ....." (repeatedly) and made other derogatory remarks about me when I pointed out that it was the right type of bag, that I had gotten it from an airport employee, that this was discrimination, that it was illegal and that I had done nothing to merit this kind of treatment.

But she refused to let me through unless I left the offending items with her.

At this point, time was getting short, and I was in danger of missing my flight. So I had little choice. I left about $125 worth of my property -- a couple of containers of eyeliner, a couple of hair clips, some eye shadow, some blush and other personal effects -- with her.

Three times during this ordeal, I asked her her name so that I could follow up on the incident. She ignored my first two requests. Finally, after I insisted firmly but politely that she answer me, she responded that I could call her the "black girl with the big hair." A male guard who was nearby simply laughed at this. And, as I was walking toward the gate, the woman yelled another insult at me again.

To me, her behavior seemed unacceptable. It felt like racial discrimination and a blatant abuse of authority. In a situation where a traveler has little or no recourse, people who cannot be trusted with authority should not have such absolute power handed to them.