Laura Adiele already had gone through the advanced imaging system that is supposed to thoroughly screen passengers for metallic and nonmetallic threats when she was informed by a TSA officer, “We’re going to have to examine your hair.”
Adiele responded, “No, we’re not going to do that today, and you’re going to have to get your security or your supervisor.”
The supervisor was summoned, and Adiele was told, “It’s our policy that we examine anything that poofs from the body.”
“I’m looking around me at all these women with bigger hair, if you will, and I’m thinking ‘Why am I the only one being singled out here for poofy hair?’ ” Adiele observed women with equally “poofy” hair who were not being examined and concluded she was being singled out, most likely, because of her skin color. “They are required to investigate and examine anything that poofs from the body? That sounds like a bogus policy to me. It just sounds bogus. Poofs?!” –kathleen cross
