Mom Ordered to Show Breast Pump to Prove She Isn't a Terrorist
It’s ironic that a woman known for making award-winning films on racial profiling and hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans became the victim of angry passengers’ racial profiling herself while waiting to board a plane.
Valarie Kaur, a Sikh, American interfaith leader, lawyer, and filmmaker, was standing in line to board a plane to fly home to Los Angeles to celebrate her 1-year-old’s birthday on Wednesday. After removing the luggage tag on her carry-on bag, which contained her breast pump, the “passenger behind me raised his voice,” she wrote on Facebook.
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“He was a white man and his face was angry,” Kaur continued in the post, which received more than 1,100 likes and 167 shares. “He asked why I removed the tag. I offered to explain but he said he didn’t want to know.”
(Facebook)
It was then that a gate agent intervened. Kaur, who has appeared as an expert on CNN and NPR, reports that the agent was “alarmed and angered. I explained that I was a nursing mother, but she still didn’t let me board with my bag. Her face was just as angry. I had to pull out the breast pump to show her. Only then was I allowed to take my seat. All the passengers in first class watched and I smiled weakly to show them I wasn’t a terrorist.”
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Kaur wrote that she was “angry and shaken and sad.” She posted the account of the situation on Facebook immediately after taking her seat on the Delta aircraft. “I’m sitting on the flight now, shaken,” she wrote. “I’m thinking of the countless subtle acts of profiling of Muslim, Sikh and brown bodies in the last 14 years. The double-pain: I was reading tweets on my phone about the #SanBernardino shooting while in line, but my grieving was interrupted by a passenger seeing me as suspect.”
Not one to focus on the negative, however, Kaur went on to write, “I know that the only social and political force powerful enough to fight hate is love, and I want to practice the loving response now.”
Comments on Kaur’s Facebook post were overwhelmingly positive and supportive. One Facebook friend wrote, “…your post breaks my heart. I just don’t understand all this insanity…Holding you and so many close to my heart. May we all understand that we belong to one another.”
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Another commented, “Oh my dear sister! So sorry you had to go through that! How sad that we’ve become so hyper nervous and suspicious and forget to see each other as fellow humans first of all. Racism bears its ugly head especially in these scary times. Unfortunately it’s just below the surface and somehow becomes acceptable to people in fear. Cling to that love!”
And still another Facebook friend commented: “This is so sad and frustrating. I’m so embarrassed for these humans who allow fear to dictate their emotions and actions.I think you handled yourself graciously considering the blatant racism and disrespect. Love in this moment is simply showing them that their fears are unfounded.”
Later, Kaur posted this update: “Delta responded immediately over Twitter and offered an apology. The rest of the flight crew was truly professional and respectful. The responses to this post are overwhelming. Thank you!”
(Photo: Facebook)
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