Do Black People Smell Differently From White People?
You’d be so surprised at what racists believe
This weekend, I read a story that took me back to a regular microaggression I often faced in the corporate environment. My white female colleagues often told me I smelt good. At first, I took it as a compliment until I understood the insinuation behind it. It is a well-known fact that racists often claim that Black people have strong body odor. Just recently, on an American Airlines flight, passengers complained that there was an unpleasant odor in the aircraft. Cabin attendants identified it as body odor and then proceeded to ask eight Black male passengers to leave the aircraft for a “sniff” test. No white passenger was asked to undergo this humiliating procedure.
The men, who didn’t know each other, disembarked and underwent an inspection where they were sniffed by cabin attendants to see if they had bad body odor. They were then asked to return to their seats and pursue their journey with the other passengers. I don’t know about you, but the humiliation they must have felt is unfathomable. How would you feel if this happened to you?
The fact of the matter is that anyone can have a bad body odor — white, Black, or brown. Anyone sitting on board the flight could have been the culprit. The fact that the cabin attendants…
