Aasif Mandvi's Flying Safety Guide for Brown People

A Handy Safety Demonstration



Just in time to hit the road for the holidays... Everyone hates flying, but brown people have it especially rough. In this handy instructional video, Aasif Mandvi shows brown people how to blend in with the white folks, get through security unaccosted -- allow 8 to 10 hours -- and actually catch their flight.

Woman blasts SFO customs officer for being a racist jerk

"Tell her if she wants her green card back she needs to learn to follow directions."



In San Francisco, a woman says she and her family were humiliated and disrespected by an airport customs officer who threatened to withhold her mother's green card because of her limited English proficiency.

In a public Facebook post published Sunday, Hsin-Hung Lin recounted her recent racist interaction with Theo Bruinsma, a customs officer at San Francisco International Airport while she and her family were returning home from an overseas trip for her grandmother's funeral. They were already emotionally drained, but she says Bruinsma made the situation worse when he began to mock and threaten her mother.

"So you're telling me she's lived in the U.S. for fourteen years, and she can't speak English?" Bruinsma asked incredulously, according to Lin. Then he said to Lin, "Tell your mom my Chinese is better than her English."

Up to this point, it can be argued that this guy was just being an unprofessional asshole. But things proceeded to escalate, and Bruinsma threatened to withhold Lin's mother's green card -- basically illegally detaining her.

"Tell her if she wants her green card back she needs to learn to follow directions," Bruinsma said. "She's clearly not cooperating so she doesn't want to get her green card back."

Here's Hsin-Hung Lin's full account of their experience:

Waris Ahluwalia barred from flight because of his turban

Sikh actor and designer denied entry into Aeromexico flight back to New York.



On Monday, celebrity Sikh American fashion designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia was barred from boarding his AeroMexico flight home from Mexico City to New York City because he refused to remove his turban.

Turban-Wearing Sikh American Actor Is Barred From Aeroméxico

Ahluwalia, who wears a turban in observance of his Sikh faith, says he was flagged for a secondary security check. He was held back until all other passengers had boarded the 7:15 AM Aeroméxico flight out of Mexico City. Security personnel searched his bag, swabbed him and patted him down.

When they asked Ahluwalia to take off his turban, he refused.

Jose Antonio Vargas detained at Texas airport

Undocumented journalist and immigration activist taken into custody by Border Patrol



Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, filmmaker and immigrant rights activist Jose Antonio Vargas -- arguably the most visible undocumented immigrant in the country -- was detained at a Texas airport this morning.

Reporter Jose Vargas, symbol of immigration debate, detained at airport

Vargas, who started the campaign Define American and has been outspoken about being undocumented, was detained in McAllen, Texas while trying to go through airport security. He was in McAllen to cover the children migrant crisis and show solidarity for the youth who have been recently crossing the border from Central America.

Only after arriving in McAllen, where the security procedures are much stricter, did he realize how challenging it might be to return home. As an undocumented immigrant, Vargas does not have a U.S. government-issued ID, and expressed uncertainty about getting through the numerous Customs and Border Protection checkpoints.

This morning, Vargas tweeted that he was about to go through airport security:

Missing college student found safe and reunited with family

University of Illinois student went missing at O'Hare International Airport



Good news, but what happened to you, dude? Hye Min Choi, the University of Illinois student who went missing after checking in at the airport last Saturday, has been found safe and reunited with his family.

Missing University of Illinois student Hye Min Choi found, reunited with family

Choi, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, checked his luggage at O'Hare International Airport on Saturday afternoon, but never boarded his United Airlines flight to Greensboro, North Carolina, and didn't re-book another flight.

Chicago police issued a statement earlier in the week asking for the public's help in locating Choi, but now it looks like he's okay, and reportedly in good condition. No further details were released, but it looks like he might not have wanted to go home because of school-related problems:

Missing: Hye Min Choi, last seen at O'Hare International Airport

University of Illinois student checked in for his flight but never boarded

In Chicago, police are asking for the public's help locating a University of Illinois student who went missing after checking luggage at O'Hare International Airport.

U of I student missing after checking in at O'Hare

19-year-old Hye Min Choi, also known as Joseph Choi, checked his luggage on Saturday afternoon for a United Airlines flight to North Carolina, but has not been seen or heard from since 4:49pm that day. According to Chicago Police, he did not board his flight, and did not re-book another flight.

His luggage arrived in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his mother picked it up.

Choi, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is described as 5-feet, 6 inches tall, weighs 100 lbs., and has brown eyes and black hair. He has a scar on his right eyelid.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Area North Special Victim's Unit at (312) 744-8200.

More here: U of I student missing after checking in for O'Hare flight

the ambassador gets his own coffee

Hey look! It's Gary Locke, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to China, carrying his own backpack and ordering his own coffee... just like a regular dude. No big deal, right? It's apparently a big deal in China: Photo of bag-carrying ambassador charms China.

This photo, candidly snapped last week at Seattle Tacoma International Airport and uploaded to a Chinese social media network, has apparently created quite a buzz amongst those impressed by the simple average joe-ness of an official, sans entourage, getting his own coffee: