The recent incident involving three black passengers being removed from an American Airlines flight due to a complaint about body odor has sparked outrage and raised concerns about racial discrimination in the airline industry. The men, who were not seated together and did not know each other, have filed a lawsuit against the airline, alleging that they were targeted because of their race. This incident has shed light on the issue of racial profiling and discrimination that is still prevalent in society today.
The lawsuit, filed by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, accuses the airline of singling out the men based on their race and subjecting them to embarrassment and humiliation in front of other passengers. The men claim that they were already seated on the flight from Phoenix to New York when they were asked to exit the plane by a flight attendant. They were later allowed to re-board the flight after no other services to New York were available that night.
The lawsuit alleges that the men experienced feelings of embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, anger, and distress throughout the incident, and that they were subjected to undue suspicion from other passengers. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages for the trauma they endured as a result of the incident.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the Civil Rights era, with one of the plaintiffs, Mr. Joseph, likening it to the experience of Rosa Parks being forced to move to the back of a bus due to racial segregation. He emphasized the importance of holding American Airlines accountable for their actions to ensure that they do not get away with a mere “slap on the wrist.”
This incident is not an isolated case, as in 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory warning black Americans to avoid American Airlines due to discrimination. The advisory was lifted the following year after the airline announced changes to its operations. The recent lawsuit highlights the ongoing struggle against racial discrimination in the airline industry and the need for accountability and reforms to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
