Just when you think you’ve seen the full spectrum of bad airport behavior, we turn to Cambodia, where a Canadian traveler put her vile racism on full display.
Racism And Entitlement Collide In Shocking Airport Incident In Cambodia
An incident at Techo International Airport (KTI) in Cambodia, the new airport in Phnom Penh, has sparked outrage after a family traveling together was subjected to racist abuse, harassment, and physical violence while checking in for a flight. The encounter underscores how racism and entitlement can manifest anywhere, from anyone, and often most aggressively when money, status, or perceived privilege enters the picture.
My family and I were waiting in line to check in our bags at Techo International Airport in Cambodia. We were called up by an EVA airline worker to just check in at the Priority desk because no one was in the Priority line and there was a lot of people waiting. Not even 5 minutes later these 2 come up and point to the Priority sign and start kicking our bags and motion with their hands for us to leave the desk area. The airline worker apologized and said that they’re Priority so they’ll check them first. We were fine with that and hadn’t even started the check-in process yet so we began to move 3 carts of luggage in a crowded space.
Unprovoked, the girl said to my mom, “You don’t know Business Class??” and proceeded to be extremely hateful. She called us and Cambodians as a population ugly and poor. She was waving her Canadian passport in our faces and called us refugees because we’re Cambodian and live in the US. (My siblings and I were born in the states.) The guy in the black shirt next to her tried to tape us and stuck his phone right in everyone’s noses.
From that, a physical altercation broke out where he threw the first punch at my dad. This is absolutely disgusting that someone could be so hateful for no reason.
Here’s the video:
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This is grotesque behavior…it needs no more commentary. No airline status, premium cabin ticket, or passport grants someone the right to demean others, let alone resort to physical violence. The casual way racial slurs, classist insults, and threats were deployed here is especially disturbing.
We just saw a parallel controversy unfold yesterday involving Finnair, a reminder that racism comes in many forms and from many directions. It is not confined to one country, culture, or political system.
There is also an unmistakable entitlement problem on display here. The belief that money, status, or a Western passport confers superiority is corrosive. Airports have a way of revealing how some people behave when they think they are above rules, courtesy, and basic decency. That this escalated into physical violence makes it even more alarming….
CONCLUSION
There is nothing nuanced about this story. The behavior described is reprehensible. It is a reminder that racism is not an abstract accusation but a lived experience that can erupt anywhere, often from those who believe themselves untouchable.
For all the hemming and hawing about Miss Finland or an old Finnair ad from the 1980s, this is true racism on display.
Yup, bigotry sucks, everywhere.
Speaking of Cambodia, how’s everything looking with Thailand these days? About to go into peak tourist season for both countries, yet, last I checked, they started shooting at each other again…not great, either.
The folks over at FIFA must be so disappointed… they gave that prize… yet, look, not solved. *sigh*
It’s sad to see the violence flare up again. Obviously, I’m no Trump fan, but willing to give him credit for his peace efforts in Armenia/Azerbaijan, Pakistan/India, Cambodia/Thailand, Israel/Gaza, Sudan, and of course Ukraine/Russia if he would only stop capitulating to Putin…hopefully Cambodia and Thailand can work it out quickly because this benefits neither side.
Agreed. I’m even willing to give him credit for peace between Albania and Azerbaijan, too, if it would help. For real, though, the abdications to Putin are this century’s greatest geopolitical blunder, so far, and a huge ‘win’ for Xi, in the process.
the airline should have denied boarding to the initiator on the spot.
Agreed. She was out of control…
Still shooting at each other: Cambodia continues to launch drone attacks, Thailand sends F-16s to bomb villages in Cambodia. On and on it goes.
It’s just a dick-measuring contest between corrupt dictators.
Thailand’s lame excuse for a government just dissolved parliament and called for new elections in February. Should be quite a circus, nd no doubt will feed the idiocy and corruption. I’m going in March, and hoping things settle down at least a bit by then.
Everyone gets a FIFA Peace Prize now. I’m planning to pick up several at the night markets.
KTI Techo is the airport for Phnom Penh, not Siem Reap correct?
You are correct – thank you, Willem!
Agree with your comments and calling this behavior what it is–racism. However, I am also thinking about the several annual corporate indoctrination training sessions I was made to attend in a Fortune 100 company, where it was made VERY clear to all of us that only white people can be racist, and that also 100% of white people are racist by definition. This was the theory out of “all the top US academic institutions”, at least as of about 10 years ago.
One reason I wrote this – the people who claim that only whites can be racist are the same people who are responsible for the rise of Trump and MAGA (the boomerang goes too far in either direction)…
We can be sober-minded in pointing out that all people are capable of racism…
“For all the hemming and hawing about Miss Finland or an old Finnair ad from the 1980s, this is true racism on display.”
I mean, both can be examples of true racism at the same time.
Indeed, but I just don’t see Miss Finland’s childish slant eyes gag as rising to the same level (like, I don’t think she thought for a second she was better than East Asian people and I think a key element of racism is a belief in racial superiority). That said, I cannot read her mind…and she really should have known better.
Yeah, this is not that, though. Sure, we could all be ‘politically correct,’ but people just aren’t. It’s a spectrum. We’re not gonna stop every offensive thing from happening or being said. There’s also a paradox of intolerance. Then, there’s satire… For instance, the old Colbert Report’s “Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever” on the show, verses Comedy Central tweeting it out years later (stupidly), controversy from 2014. Was that racism/bigotry, or just good fun? Seemed offensive without the full-context of the ‘bit’ from the show. Or, how about Apu in the Simpsons? Should stereotypes ‘cancel’ shows? It gets complicated. Yet, we’re dealing with neo-Nazis in the US, who are trying to censor opponents, rendition citizens, and implement racial supremacy. That’s a far bigger threat than anything discussed here or with that Finland incident.
The airport authority should have had taken the initiator into custody and prevented her from boarding the plane as this passenger could be a potential risk to other passengers on the plane until she can manage to comprehend her wrongdoing
Agreed!