Matt pulled up to the airport after a long cab ride out of Pittsburgh with just enough time to catch his flight to Austin. What a perfectly timed weekend he’d been having! He reached into his pants and was surprised to be met with an unusual absence… His wallet was missing! He’d left it almost an hour away at Mike’s. The reluctant adventurer just shook his head.
He paid the driver with a photo of the credit card from his phone and raced through to security. He’d boarded a flight before without ID, there was no reason to believe his white male privilege wouldn’t work again. But this line, it was outrageous! People snaked back from the checkpoint, mazed around pylons, and continued further back into the main rotunda. The looks on their faces making it plainly obvious that they weren’t moving quickly.
Matt nope’d out of the line and explained his situation to a nearby guard, concluding with:
“And if you need to strip me naked, look through all my stuff, whatever, that’s fine, but I need to get on that flight.” This was a work trip and, despite recent events that might prove otherwise, he was a responsible adult now.