The hijab functions as a racial marker that triggers airport surveillance

Evidence

Comparing the experiences of Muslim women who wear the hijab to those who do not wear it demonstrates how clothing can become a racial marker for Muslim women because it triggers surveillance. Women who did not wear the hijab had very different experiences while flying. Samira, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian American who worked as a domestic violence advocate, told me she was stopped and searched at the security checkpoint when she wore the hijab but has no longer been “randomly” searched at airports since she stopped wearing it. Experiences like this suggest that the hijab is what motivates TSA agents to stop and search Muslim women. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 224

Categorization

• XREF: Direct empirical support that clothing racializes — Samira’s A/B comparison across her own body is the single clearest demonstration of Selod’s religion-vs-race mechanism. — connects to: Airport profiling collapses religious identity and racial appearance into a single target — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 65; The hijab functions as Islam’s most provocative symbol in Western public discourse.; Airport surveillance differentially targets men via lists and hijab-wearing women via physical searches — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 70 (+28 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 224

Broader Connections

• The hijab rather than skin tone triggers racializing surveillance of Muslim women #corroborates (0.90) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 292
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated #corroborates (0.85)
• Surveillance justified by religious identity constitutes racialization of Muslims #corroborates (0.75)
• Muslim religious identity becomes a racial category through surveillance. #expands (0.70)
• Racialized religious signifiers trigger hostile surveillance interactions with state and citizens #expands (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 650
• Airports allocate the privilege of unexamined travel along racialized lines #expands (0.60)