Discrimination Illustrates Security Theater

Last month, ProPublica asked anyone who has had their hair searched by TSA to contact them. The results of that have now been published, confirming that the body scanners find anomalies in certain hairstyles, which happen to also be more prevalent for black women. Not surprisingly, black women repeatedly get singled out for further scrutiny.

A telling quote from a TSA official inadvertently admits that naked scanners are not effective at finding actual terrorists (the purported purpose of TSA) :
"'With black females, the scanner alarms more because they have thicker hair; many times they have braids or dreadlocks,' said a TSA officer who works at an airport in Texas and asked not to be named. '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.' [Emphases added]

You got that? The naked scanners - which violate basic rights to personal privacy and bodily integrity, and apparently discriminate against trans-individuals, black women, and (I would surmise) several other groups of marginalized people - can NOT DISTINGUISH between a real threat and something that is NOT a real threat.

Does the TSA profile? Does it matter?

A recent Cosmopolitan article looks at the possibility of racial profiling by TSA:

"Between May 13, 2015 and March 13, 2017, 98 black women filed hair-search complaints with the TSA, according to the records from the Multicultural Branch. That number is likely a small fraction of the women who felt they were inappropriately searched, as my FOIA request for complaints filed regarding specific airports in several cities uncovered an additional 85 complaints, and of course many women may not know they can file a complaint at all. While the TSA states on its website that searches are not conducted with regard to race, these complaints from black women across the country raise serious questions about whether that's true."

Regardless of whether this is due to racial profiling, we have fundamental rights violations occurring at airports everyday. It isn't really surprising that minority groups feel singled out, when we give state employees so much power.

It's not like it would be okay for black women to have their hair searched so long as white women had their hair searched in proportional numbers. Or that it would be okay for women to have their hair searched so long as men also had their hair searched an equal number of times. The violation of another person's rights does not make my own rights violation less, well, violating!

How about no hair searches by a government official unless a warrant is signed by a judge using the traditional American standards for search warrants. In case your civics lesson is fuzzy:

"A judge issues a search warrant to authorize law enforcement officers to search a particular location and seize specific items. To obtain a search warrant, police must show probable cause that a crime was committed and that items connected to the crime are likely to be found in the place specified by the warrant."

The entire TSA process is a rights violation. Fighting between protected classes about who is more oppressed is taking our eye off the common oppressor.