One would expect one of the prime entry ports to the United States to have a rather flashy airport. But no – it looked shabby all the way. I went through immigration and customs to eventually reach the departure gate for my connecting flight. All the time I walked through corridors and halls with low ceilings and naked walls without any plating, never coming across a single window. Even the waiting area right at the gate had an intransparent coating on the windows making it impossible to get a view of the airfield, let alone the city. Well, I saw only a small fraction of this airport. Maybe other parts of it look nicer.
I quickly got a first impression of how this country works. According to US Census only 12.4% of the population is African American. Yet, nearly all the people with low qualification (and low salary) jobs were black. Someone has nothing else to do but stand next to a queue of travelers and tell them to fill in the green immigration form? It’s a safe bet this person is black. The guys loading luggage onto the plane? Black. It’s understandable that some of them perceive themselves as underprivileged, even in the 21st century.
