Ever since 9-11, I always make sure I don´t have anything that would hinder me from getting on the plane. I carry a lot of nik-naks in my bag, so I always check it. I went thru it and the only thing that might have been a problem were the bicycle tools. I took them all out and put them in my luggage (as I planned to rent a bike in Panama).

So the time comes for me to go thru the security line. I go thru and my person is clean but they ask if they can put my bag thru again. They put it thru again and then ask to search it. They search it and still nothing. At this point I think their equipment sucks and they are just giving me a hard time. But they put it thru again and the young lady insists there is ¨something¨ there.

They look in my bag again and lo and behold they find what else but a… BOX CUTTER! I´m like oh shit, I messed up BAD! The guy who pulled it out said ¨this is not allowed sir!¨

(((Öh really dumbass! Thanks for telling me!)))

So he hands it to another guy and the guy asks ¨Do you wish to check this in?¨

No.

So they gave me my bag and I was on my way. I quickly realized that I was not going to reprimanded any further. I first was surprised but then realized that I don´t look like a terrorist. Maybe a thief, gangbanger, or drug dealer but definitely not a terrorist. Black folks ain´t sophisticated enough for that. The most I could be is a Jamaican kingpin (darkskin and locks> common stereotype for me) but with my inexpensive clothing I don´t fit that bill for long. Plus considering that everyone of the workers was Afrikan in some sense of the word (American or Continental), that gave them a sense of familiarity with me.

They pretty much just tapped me on the hand and were like¨:

¨What´s wrong nigga you sleepin or summin?¨

Shit if I was Arab or looked like it, I would have prolly been hemmed up and stripped naked in a room with a bunch of soldiers with M-16´s takin turn going upside my head.

I´m PROUD to Be BLACK! ;-)

The first flight was pretty smooth and went by in no time. I flew from Washington to Newark to connect to a no-stop flight to Panama. The Panama flight was HUGE! I everybody and they momma was on that flight. I also noticed a lot of heavily-indigenous American-looking people (like Mayans) on the flight and thought that was pretty odd. Sure there are many people who fit that bill in Panama but the native peoples have very small numbers these days with many tribes wiped out thru the years with a few holding strong. And the ones that do hold it down are not likely to be getting on planes and flying out of Panama en masse. I found out later that this flight would go to Ecuador after it stopped in Panama. ((ONE DAY IT’LL ALL MAKE SENSE)))

So while the flight was pretty smooth and nothing very climatic happened (except maybe for the 2 foot tall Chinese woman who only spoke Cantonese and espanol and asked me to switch my aisle seat with her, dumbass), I talked to a guy from Switzerland who sat next to me. He didn´t look Swiss to me but more Latin, like a Spaniard. He said that he was mixed as his mother was Panamanian and he was going to visit her. He told me about the difficulties he had been having going to Panama. He had been on route to Panama for over 20 hours, mainly because he missed several flights because of being held by airport security. One of the problems was that he was carrying some very hi-tech computer equipment as he was a computer technician. The other problem was his complexion. People didn´t believe that he was Swiss and thought he was probably Arab or Muslim and had acquired a Swiss passport illegally. (He could have passed for a Moroccan or Algerian in my opinion.) He told me how they stripped search him, verbally harassed him and did other illegal searches. He also informed me that the Swiss Embassy was going to financially compensate him through a $5000+ fine that Continental Airlines had to pay. Hmmmm…
Would I let someone strip search me for $5000???

Oh yeah, Continental Airlines really does suck. I got there but my luggage didn´t!?

...continuaré luego...