Lady Accuses TSA Of Racism For Extended Inspection Of, Laughter At Her ‘Poofy’ Hair

The federal organization in charge of security at airports has heard plenty of criticisms from both sides of the aisle for their intrusive and often seemingly ineffective search measures on travelers. But the “racism” charge is one seem with less frequency, especially as children and the elderly complain that they are being searched needlessly to avoid racial profiling. Laura Adiele‘s story is precisely the opposite of that: she told MSNBC’s Richard Lui this week that her hair was inspected for being “poofy” amid laughter by TSA agents.

Adiele noted that the hair inspection came after TSA agents ordered her to go through a full-body scan, which she noted was “already uncomfortable enough,” but that she was later told her hair required a second look. “They didn’t give me a reason at all,” she noted, other than saying they needed to inspect “anything that poofs from the body.” Her response to the statement MSNBC procured from the TSA– which noted that specific kinds of hair can require more inspecting than others– was to note that this policy was nowhere on their website or visible to the average traveler.

“The whole thing seems so fishy to me,” she added, noting that he was being laughed and stared at during the process. What’s more, Adiele confessed she had had this recurring problem throughout her life, “people comparing my hair to buckweed or Aunt Jemima.” While she said she normally wouldn’t, “I played the race card in this because I looked around and didn’t see anyone else being searched that way.”

Adiele’s testimony of what happened to her via MSNBC below: