Racism in US Customs
Dear Rudy,
Last week you asked for stories regarding experiences while going
through US Customs. It reminded me that I've been meaning to write
you regarding your interview with a US Customs official a couple of
months ago.
Talk to ANY African American about U.S. air travel and FWB (Flying
While Black) will come up in the conversation. Hence, I very
disappointed in your interview with the customs official, as you
didn't ask, much less confront, him about the common racism in that
line of work.
I'm an African American who has had many negative and distressingly
consistent experiences with customs officers during dozens of
"re-entries". Here's the formula I've learned: At some airports and
border crossings the traveler has a choice of customs officials (who
do the interview). If I do not pick a white male I will be asked the
bare minimum of questions and waved through in a matter of seconds.
If it is a white male (often you have no choice) I will be given the
third degree, spoken to as if I had already broken a law and my
belongings will be pawed through without concern for fragile items.
The only time I wasn't treated in this fashion by a white male
customs officer was when I was traveling from Mexico with my wife who
was carrying a box of strange looking cultural artifacts (he was
nearly drooling over that!).
I returned from Mexico a couple of weeks ago and with my "I showered
this morning" look for the dreaded customs interrogation. I was
pleased as punch to see that I not only had a choice of customs
officer's but one of them appeared to be Latino. I quickly got with
him and, as predicted, he asked a bare minimum of questions. But, as
he was waving me through a white male officer who appeared to be a
supervisor (he had a snappier uniform) working the neighboring line
looked over his shoulder, saw me, and started asking the Latino
officer about my belongings. By this time I was high-tailing it out
the door as I heard the Latino officer explain what he thought I had
in my possession. Pretty sad, huh?.
Sincerely,
Ernest
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