Pastor argues with US Department of Homeland Security over “flying as a black man”

Reverend Donald Smith, pastor of Holy Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, has been in ministry for 18 years and has never been a victim of the “Flying While Black” law. But now he says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has targeted him and demanded that he pay $2,000 for a crime he never committed. He contested the case in court and won.

“This whole thing is crazy,” Pastor Smith, 64, told the Chicago Crusader.

His nightmare occurred on August 11, 2022, when he went to Midway Airport to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles.

It was 5 a.m. when Smith arrived at Midway Airport. Since he had paid to check in before going through the TSA, Smith didn't think he would have any problems boarding his flight. He was wrong. And that's when his nightmare really began.

As Smith walked to the X-ray scanner, where passengers empty their bags into a tray that detects items that could set off an alarm, Smith said, “I asked this (white, TSA agent) woman with blue (hair dye) in her hair if I could use one (a tray), but she acted like I hadn't said anything to her. I felt like she was trying to profile me. I said, 'Excuse me, ma'am, can I have a cup (a tray)?' She said, 'I made an announcement.' I told her, I'm sorry, but I didn't hear your announcement.

“I waited a few more minutes. I told her it was five in the morning. I was trying to catch my flight. My wife had already gone through. I said, 'Excuse me, ma'am.' I asked her again. She said something loudly and I thought someone was going to bring me a cup, but no one moved.

“I tried to get her attention again and told her that everyone should be nice like me. Someone is going to be fooling around and go there and hit you and make you move. She jumped up and went to the back. I thought, well, she can move, but she came back with the police and told them that I had said I was going to 'f***ing hit her.'

Smith said he looked at her and said, “First of all, I'm a retiree. I have things to do in the morning. I don't have time to play games and mess around with someone who doesn't want to go to work. The officer said, 'Man, why don't you just apologize?'”

The priest stood firm and told the officer, “Man, I'm not going to tell her I'm sorry for what I didn't do. That's what they do to us all the time. They mistreat us and then want us to apologize. I didn't say that.”

Smith told police they had cameras and asked them to play the video footage to prove he did not say the words the TSA agent claimed.

Smith told police that if the video proved he was wrong, he would apologize, otherwise he would not, because he never made those comments to her. “Until then, arrest me,” he told the officer.

Police arrested Smith, took him to the 63rd Street police station and charged him with aggravated assault, but documents obtained by the Chicago Crusader said he was charged with “simple assault.”

“What? It can't be an assault because I didn't touch her,” Smith told the officer.

“I didn't get through security because she never gave me a tray to empty my pockets. I didn't attack her, but if that's what you all want, then arrest me,” he said.

Smith said when police arrested him, the TSA agent “had a grin on her face.” Police arrested Pastor Smith and took his fingerprints. “When they did my background report, of course there was nothing there.”

Police immediately released Smith, and a former police officer who had found out what had happened to Smith and was a member of his church came to the police station and drove him back to Midway Airport. Smith did not have to pay the $1,500 bail. “I was able to walk right through the airport and get my flight,” said Smith, who arrived in Los Angeles an hour and a half late.

Smith still has questions. “How do I go to court in Illinois when no one there can prove anything that this woman is claiming I said. They just believed her. When I went to court, they said they didn't want to press charges against me.” Smith said his accuser was in court at the time, but then came another shock.

“How can the U.S. Department of Homeland Security come in out of the blue and tell me I owe them $2,000 for a case I already won? How does that make sense?” he asked.

Smith said he was wrongfully arrested and charged and felt he was “wrongly convicted and the victim of racial discrimination” by TSA agents.

“I was supposed to have a Zoom court hearing with them, but of course they messed everything up.” The link they gave him never worked.

“They're acting like I did something. They're asking for $2,000. I'm not the only one they're doing this to. I think it's happening disproportionately to our people.”

When asked, a TSA spokesperson said, “TSA does not identify passengers and does not confirm whether a specific passenger will face a civil penalty.”

“On August 11, 2022, an incident occurred at MDW where a passenger threatened a Transportation Security Officer at the checkpoint. TSA contacted Chicago Police, who arrived on scene and arrested the passenger.

“In addition, passengers who assault officers or interfere with security screening may face civil penalties from the TSA.” The official did not explain why the Department of Homeland Security is charging Smith $2,000.

However, Smith said: “I did not threaten her, and when she accused me of verbally abusing her, that was not true. That is not who I am.”

He said the TSA's allegation that he threatened the TSA agent was “not valid” and that he still wanted to know why and what they charged him the $2,000 for, even though he had won the case against them.