Tara Houska was at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on Monday when she was put in an uncomfortable situation while undergoing a pat-down at security, she wrote onTwitterMonday.
She explained that the TSA agent said “she needed to pat down my braids,” to which Houska complied.
Then, however, Houska said the agent “pulled [the braids] behind my shoulder, laughed & said ‘giddyup!’ as she snapped my braids like reins.”
“My hair is part of my spirit…Your ‘fun’ hurt,” she wrote.
While Houskatried to explainto the “middle-aged blonde woman who had casually used her authority to dehumanize and disrespect [her]” how she felt, she did not receive the response she was looking for.
“‘Well it was just in fun, I’m sorry. Your hair is lovely,'” Houska recalled as the woman’s response. “That is NOT an apology and it is NOT okay.”
AP Photo/Alan Diaz
To further understand the situation, Cliff Van Leuven, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Minnesota, reached out to Houska.
Van Leuven apologized to her for the “insensitive” comment and actions that occurred during the screening, the statement said.
“TSA holds its employees to the highest standards of professional conduct and any type of improper behavior is taken seriously,” it continued.
Van Leuven sent an additional email to the airport’s TSA agents, fully owning up to Monday’s incident.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
He continued that during his “very pleasant” phone call with Houska, she asked that TSA “take the chance to continue to educate our staff about the many Native American Tribes/Bands in our state and region to better understand their culture.”
“We all make mistakes,” he wrote in the email. “Treating the public we are sworn to serve and protect with dignity and respect is our calling — every passenger, every day. We’ll learn from this…”
After speaking with Van Leuven and seeing TSA’s statement, Houska said she felt the response was a “good resolution from a bad situation.”
“We need more education & empathy for one another,” she wrote on Twitter, adding that she found the situation to be a “teaching moment.”
“I should be treated with dignity, as should everyone else,” Houska wrote.
source: people.com
