One woman’s story – dealing with TSA ‘thugs’ mauling her child in the name of “safety”; and her hopes for our future…
February 2, 2006
by Leslie Brundige
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I’ve flown on two occasions since 9/11. Initially my fear was based on my inability to fit the events of the day into any coherent, rational format. Not because I expect a terrorist to be rational. Because the current Administration’s clear culpability is,well, unsettling. The world doesn’t feel safe but it has damn little to do with a guy in a cave in Afghanistan.
I flew last September. Our experience at the Fort Lauderdale was humiliating for myself, my husband and daughter. (My husband, being the son of a NYC detective, is more docile in these kinds of situations.) My daughter, fourteen years old and experiencing the second menstrual cycle in her young life, was “wanded” while sitting in full view of waiting passengers, legs spread, feet in the air. She had already been selected for a special pat down search and had removed several articles of clothing and jewelry. Being a quiet, introverted type, she sent me mute “Help Me” pleas. Her face was beet red.
I wanted to kill them.
I, too had experienced a similar pat down, and thorough perusal of my carry on bag. When I started to move closer to her to comfort her and lessen her embarrassment, she saw it was futile. She heard the threats: “Move Away From the Child. If you continue to resist we will call Airport Security. MOVE AWAY FROM THE CHILD NOW.”
She was singled out because she was a child. I was singled out because of my protective behavior.
In my former life, before the TSA thugs, I was a fearless traveler. Helicoptered into volcanoes in Hawaii, single engine planes to out-of-the-way Alaskan sites, Mexico, Europe, Caribbean. I went anywhere, did anything.
Money was good for two things: travel and books. Now it’s only good for books.
I don’t fly anymore. I’m angry that the bastards who play with our lives and psyches in any way that enriches or benefits them have succeeded in diminishing my quality of life. But I will never fly again, I will never experience the blind, helpless rage at being mauled in the name of “safety”. This is a sick, sick perversion of “safety”.
My daughter? She’ll fly. And she’ll be outraged, and she’ll question. She may not question for a few more years, not publicly at least. When her voice is no longer that of a child, she will openly question. In spite of their best efforts, she is not a sheeple. She reads, she thinks, she doesn’t attend public “school”. Sometimes I think she and others like her will be our salvation. I have to hope for that. Otherwise, why fight? The police state is here.
Leslie Brundige [email – ptni@direcway.com] is a volunteer with the PopulistAmerica.com news research team.
