Valarie Kaur, an attorney and filmmaker who regularly appears on MSNBC, was asked to show her breast pump to fellow passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight to prove she wasn’t a terrorist. [Kaur’s commentary is often quoted by CNN, NPR, PBS, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Hill and The New York Times. Her work focuses on hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans, racial profiling, immigrant detention and solitary confinement.]
Just now: boarding @Delta flight in MN, passengers + attendant saw my breast milk pump as a threat: #SanBernardino pic.twitter.com/qwDB9v63DN
— Valarie Kaur (@valariekaur) December 3, 2015
In an emotional Facebook post, Kaur, a media and justice fellow at Stanford Law School, shared that she was boarding a plane to Los Angeles when she removed the luggage tag on her carry-on bag, where she kept her breast pump. Upon doing so, an angry passenger behind her began pointing Kaur out to other passengers. When the TSA agents were contacted, an alarmed and angered agent questioned her, demanding an explanation as to what was in her bag, even though she had already been screened and had the bag x-rayed.
A few minutes ago, while waiting in line to board a #Delta flight home to LA, I removed the luggage tag on my carry-on….
Posted by Valarie Kaur on Wednesday, December 2, 2015
After the flight, a Delta representative reached out to Kaur via Twitter and apologized.
Will do. RT @DeltaAssist: @valariekaur This sounds pretty bad. Could you DM me the flight number that you were boarding when this happened?
— Valarie Kaur (@valariekaur) December 3, 2015
Isn’t this a clear example of profiling and racism? Was it necessary to subject Kaur to police state questioning because of her skin color and her right to travel?
@valariekaur @Delta Awful. Thanks for sharing, Valarie.
— Christopher Gorham (@ChrisGorham) December 3, 2015
@valariekaur by virtue of my skin color I benefit from a privilege I rarely think about. I’m sorry this happened to you.
— Christina Garner (@GarnerChristina) December 3, 2015
Suspected terrorists can legally buy guns, but a Sikh woman is harassed over her breast pump. https://t.co/EXsSb7TdOk
— TC (@tchop_stl) December 3, 2015
Sikh woman told to show breast pump; passenger suspects she’s a terrorist https://t.co/PLiM1xYbHv – Flying w/ dark complexion, now a crime
— Chabochi (@Chabochi) December 3, 2015
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This is one of those “prepare yourself to deal with ignorant, bigoted white folks” moments. To my Muslim, Sikh, Middle Eastern, Indian/Pakistani and Latino (some of whom get incorrectly ID’d as Arab): Don’t remove the luggage tag from your carry-on while you are at the airport, on line, in front of white people. There is a 3 in 10 chance that some paranoid, bigoted, white loser will make your life miserable for it. Think about these things before you go to the airport and insulate yourself from causally induce white bigotry. Yes, you will have to deal with the occasional non-causally induced forms of ignorance; but why open yourself up to the avoidable kind? Remember: There are tons of really, really stupid white folks of severely limited experience, education, understanding, exposure and reasoning capacity in the US. You will encounter them in businesses like airlines, airports, transit systems, malls and others where large numbers of people congregate; and those businesses will kowtow to the irrational instincts of these ignorant white people because in Murica they are valued more than you are, no matter how stupid they are. I am beginning to think that Black people should start hosting seminars called something like “Dealing With White American Racism, Bigotry and Prejudice: A Primer for Brown People of any Background in the USA.”
Clearly this woman is subversive otherwise she would have changed her name, blonded her hair and had her skin professionally whitened (and if anyone cannot get it that I am being extremely sarcastic… This person deserved fairer treatment. The airline should be prosecuted. The bastard (and I am being polite) who first screamed at her should be identified and sued.
things like this make me root for yellowstone to blow ….
bull, if i seen anyone removing a luggage tag that had been put on to seal a bag i think i would also not have been happy and pointed it out to anyone around me and any agent, the tags are there for a reason, security, what she should have done was approached the security officer and asked him or her before hand, why is this shit always put down to color of skin or i am a muslim and your hurting my feelings, how did anyone know she was a muslim how did that even come into play, was she carrying an isis flag, was she openly carrying a billboard or even a koran, like i say, bull so stop making out to be anything other than it is
She’s not a muslim.. She’s Sikh dude.. And I’m pretty sure that you would not be alarmed if somebody would remove the tag. The only thing people are usually thinking about is getting the first in line. Be honest here