airport Archives - The Race Card Project

My brother doesn’t look like me

January 13, 2022 adopted, airport, American, Brooklyn, brother, Caroline Foster, doesn't look like me, first experience, first meeting, NY, South Korea, we are family, white family

Caroline Foster,
Brooklyn, NY

I’m white, my younger brother was adopted from South Korea when I was five. I forget that we don’t look related because although I remember picking him up from the airport with my family, we’ve been siblings since before I understood that his experience being adopted by a white family in America would be different than mine. Sometimes I need to clarify that he’s my brother to friends or acquaintances because it’s not immediately obvious. I used to have a picture of him as my lock screen on my phone. People would always ask me if he was my boyfriend. I always wonder how he feels about it. We don’t talk about it much as a family.

Sir, it’s just a random search.

September 11, 2020September 11, 2020 9/11, airport, Arab, CA, discrimination, Naim A., random search, San Francisco, security, singled out, stereotype, TSA

Naim A.,
San Francisco, CA.

These are the words I hear every time I go to the airport. Being Arab-American, I always face discrimination whether it’s from peers or random people on the street or social media but never let it get to me. The airport is the one place that always seems to get to me because I always get singled out for a “necessary random search” that takes a lot of time. It’s become such hassle that when we fly somewhere, we show up to the airport at least 4 hours early to be on the safe side and not get held back.

I am white, I am privileged.

September 18, 2017 airport, Carly Mayer, hear, officer, OR, police, Portland, privilege, skin color, wealthy

Carly Mayer,
Portland, OR.

Often I hear white people say that they are not privileged because they aren’t wealthy, or because they aren’t straight, etc. But white people have a privilege that most of us are unaware of. We don’t get pulled aside at airports or pulled over by police officers or verbally assaulted solely due to our skin color. I am white and I am privileged.

Shocked! Separate restrooms in Georgia airport.

September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 airport, AZ, bathroom, colored, GA, Nancy B. Riley, restroom, Scottsdale, separate, shocked, white's only

Nancy B. Riley
Scottsdale, AZ

I was 15 and on my way to a cousin’s wedding in North Carolina. On a stop-over in Augusta, Georgia I saw restrooms labelled “White only” and “colored.” Raised in Kansas City and living in Arizona, I had never, ever seen such signs. It scared me!