Hijab-wearing travelers refuse removal requests and trigger agent ambivalence about the practice

Evidence

Ayesha: I was quiet because I couldn’t believe he just asked me that. Then I was like, “Well, I wear it for religious reasons. I’m not going to take it off.” And then he was like, “Oh.” And then he called the female person over and then I was so confused. So then she was like, “Okay. You can do it yourself. Just reach under your scarf and move it around or something, make sure there’s nothing there.” I was like, “I fly quite a bit and this is the first time I’m experiencing this.” And she was like, “I personally don’t think it’s right.” And she said herself, “I think it’s discrimination and profiling.” — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 215

Categorization

• SEED: The female TSA agent who privately calls it discrimination while enforcing it — internal dissent within the enforcement apparatus — is a rich angle for an essay on institutional complicity and conscience.
• XREF: Directy evidences the reader’s gendered angle: the hijab question targets Muslim women specifically, distinct from the male experience of being watched.