• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

Real Talk: Are Naturalistas Treated Unfairly by TSA?

Are sistahs with natural hair being treated unfairly at the airport?
Real Talk: Are Naturalistas Treated Unfairly by TSA?
By · Updated October 28, 2020
Last week I was reading “With Hair Pat Downs, Complaints of Racial Bias,” in The New York Times. Writer Joe Sharkey detailed the eventful experience of a Black woman who says she was racially profiled by the Transportation Security Administration because of her natural hair.
 
Timery Nance, 30, said a T.S.A. officer at the San Antonio airport insisted on publicly patting down her hair after she had already gone though a full-body scan without setting off any alarm. Nance asked the screener why her hair was searched while others, including White women with bushy hair, were simply waved through.
 
“Is it just African-American women with natural hair who get the hair search?” she asked. The screener replied no, “but if you have a certain kind of ponytail or bun, you have to get your hair patted,” said Nance.
 
The Times article comes after an MSNBC interview where Laura Adiele, also Black, says a screener at the Seattle-Tacoma airport insisted on patting down her natural hair, even though her body scan had not set off an alarm either. Adiele said she thought the search had been racially motivated.

“I played the race card in this just because I looked around and didn’t see anyone else being searched in that way,” Adiele told MSNBC. “And at the end of it, I had an African-American flight attendant say that she’s had this experience and that she’s seeing it more frequently and that she thought I should complain about it.”
 
With so many complaints in the media (multiple women have come forward, Nance and Adiele’s stories are just the most prominent), the TSA addressed the concern. “All passengers are thoroughly screened coming through the screening checkpoint,” a spokeswoman told the New York Times. “Additional screening may be required for clothing, headgear or hair where prohibited items may be hidden.”

Hidden? Really? This is nuts. Opting to wear your hair as God intended is not a security threat (or a political statement) and should not be treated as such. I know the TSA is trying to protect citizens by any means necessary, hoping if they check everything, no matter how ridiculous, they’ll catch everything. But, hair? Really?
 
I thought my outlook would be considered universal common sense, I mean, unless you work for the TSA. But then I stumbled across an article on The Atlanta Post. 
“It might be hard to imagine, a Black woman sneaking a razor onto a plane… but this is exactly how terrorists think,” wrote Alexis Garrett Stodghill in “Black Woman Has Hair Searched by TSA, Claims Racial Profiling.” She added, “If we want the protection from terrorism that we intensely desire, the least we can do as citizens is make it easy for the TSA to protect us on our own shores. The constant whining from barely inconvenienced citizens might make entertaining news, but it won’t be so funny if lax safety procedures lead to another 9/11. Let’s fight the real enemy, not the guardians at our own gates.”
 
Discuss.
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now