The Woman Who Showed Me How To End Racism
Last month, as I was boarding a flight to Vienna, a woman showed me a world beyond racism.
She was at the boarding gate with her daughter, trying to cram her oversized bag into one of those undersized metal cages airlines use to justify their “carry-on” fees. And since my bag was also slightly too big, I was eager to see how it would go.
It wasn’t going well.
A few other passengers had already been stopped, grumbling under their breath as they handed over the €70 ($75) fee, but this woman was particularly disgruntled. And as I got closer, I noticed a familiar tone to her disgruntlement.
“That’s okay,” she said as she slammed her credit card onto the counter. “We both know this is a racial issue. I saw you let a white man through with a case the same size as mine.”
“How dare you?” replied the agent with all the indignation you’re imagining. “I deal with customers from all over the world every single day. This has nothing to do with race.”
The two of them went back and forth, each convinced the other was judging them unfairly. But in the midst of all that racial tension, I saw something beautiful: a natural order that went beyond luggage allowances and hidden…
