Indigenous rights activist and attorney Tara Houska says she was headed home to Bemidji Monday when a TSA agent said she needed to pat down her long braids and then pulled them behind her shoulders and said “giddyup” as she snapped them like reins of a horse. The TSA is investigating a report by Houska, who said she was treated offensively at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
“My hair is part of my spirit. I am a Native woman. I am angry, humiliated. Your ‘fun’ hurt,” Houska tweeted.
Houska, who is Objibwe, says she doesn’t want the agent fired, but thinks TSA needs to improve its sensitivity training.
The TSA said it’s reviewing security video from the checkpoint and will “take appropriate action should an investigation substantiate the traveller’s allegation.”