Frequent Muslim travelers preemptively comply with airport procedures yet still face extra screening

Evidence

Sarah: That’s interesting that you say that. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I make the alarm go off all the time. Now that you say that, I don’t think I always make the alarm go off. Maybe once in a while, I will wear a safety pin and forget about it. I remember last time—my husband and I, we went to Albuquerque about a month ago. And I’m very particular when I travel. I mean, I understand that there are rules and regulations, and I’m going to follow them. So I don’t wear tons of jewelry, I just don’t do it. I wear shoes that are easy to slip off ’cause I know I am going to have to take them off in the line. And a woman pulled me aside and said, “I just have to pat down your scarf.” And they are very respectful because they have all learned how to do it now, so they have a very particular way of doing it. And my husband says to me, he goes “Why did she pull you aside?” But you know, honestly I just didn’t care. I’m like, “Fine I’ll just do it.” But it’s interesting, because I have noticed that. I have noticed that. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 212

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘I just didn’t care’ compliance — exhausted resignation as a distinct stage of surveillance experience — could anchor an essay on how repeated racialized screening produces learned acquiescence, distinct from fear or anger.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ‘Empirical anchor’ goal — this is a concrete interior moment of being watched, and echoes the compliance-without-resistance pattern in Beydoun on racialized surveillance.