Black Men Sue American Airlines for Racial Discrimination

[Social Media]

 

Three Black men have initiated a racial discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines, claiming that the airline briefly removed them from a flight following a complaint about body odor. The men, who were not acquainted and seated separately, allege that all Black men on the flight were targeted and removed on January 5 from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York.

 

"American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us," the men stated jointly on Wednesday. The Texas-based airline is currently investigating the matter, asserting that the allegations do not align with its values.

 

The federal lawsuit, filed by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, details that Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal had already taken their seats and were preparing for departure when a flight attendant approached each and asked them to exit the plane. As they were leaving, the men realized that every Black man on the flight was being removed.

 

Each of the men had flown from Los Angeles earlier that day without incident. At the flight gate, the three men, along with five others, were informed by an airline agent that they had been removed due to a complaint from a white male flight attendant about an unidentified passenger's body odor. 

 

"There is no explanation other than the color of our skin," the men asserted, labeling the incident as racial discrimination. Although American Airlines employees attempted to rebook the men on other flights, there were no other services to New York that night. Eventually, the group was allowed to reboard their original flight.

 

American Airlines issued a statement emphasizing their commitment to addressing claims of discrimination: "We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us. Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people."

 

The lawsuit further states that while the men waited outside the plane, the pilot announced a delay due to an issue with "body odor," a claim the plaintiffs contest as false. The lawsuit describes the profound embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, anger, and distress the men experienced throughout the flight, especially during interactions with the white male flight attendant and navigating past predominantly white passengers who eyed them with suspicion and anger.

 

The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages for the "trauma" endured. Mr. Joseph, one of the men suing, compared the experience to that of Civil Rights hero Rosa Parks, who was forced to move to the back of an Alabama bus in 1955 due to state-sanctioned racial discrimination. He emphasized the ongoing struggle against racial discrimination, stating, "It's a strange, crazy story that in 2024 we are still going through stuff like this." Mr. Joseph added that the lawsuit aims to ensure American Airlines does not receive merely a "slap on the wrist."

 

This incident is not the first time American Airlines has faced accusations of racial discrimination. In 2017, the NAACP, a civil rights organization, issued a travel advisory cautioning Black Americans against flying with American Airlines due to discrimination concerns. The advisory was lifted the following year after the airline announced operational changes.

 

The lawsuit against American Airlines underscores the persistent issues of racial discrimination in the airline industry and the broader challenges faced by Black Americans in their daily lives. The men involved in this case seek justice and accountability, hoping to prevent similar incidents in the future.

 

 

Credit: BBC 2024-05-31

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[RT555]

Times are tough nowadays......ya gotta make a living ANY WAY YOU CAN. So, pull the race card and sue.

[Purdey]

Hard to believe all had the same strong body odor. What on earth happened on that plane?

[Brn2Trvl]

1 hour ago, RT555 said:

Times are tough nowadays......ya gotta make a living ANY WAY YOU CAN. So, pull the race card and sue.

Being from the 20th on the list of most litigious states, guess you should know.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

Have we got the full story here? Many times there are underlying reasons that only come to the surface later.

It seems odd , but the lawsuit claiming................"The lawsuit describes the profound embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, anger, and distress the men experienced throughout the flight, especially during interactions with the white male flight attendant and navigating past predominantly white passengers who eyed them with suspicion and anger. It has been turned into a race issue, which is typical in the USA when they might be another explanation?

[alien365]

I'd hope someone may be getting sacked after this. 

Edited May 31 by alien365

[Darksidedude]

The outcome of this is cabin staff must learn Jive talk, if you know you know baahahahahah

[nobodysfriend]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

allege that all Black men on the flight were targeted and removed on January 5 from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York.

 

 I once wanted to take the bus from Baltimore to NY .

Only black people in there ... I took a seat and waited for the bus driver  to come and leave , but was forced out of the bus by a very fat black woman who told me that this bus is for black people only ... but there was nothing marked on the bus ...

Well , I took another one some time later ...

Kind of racism ...

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, RT555 said:

Times are tough nowadays......ya gotta make a living ANY WAY YOU CAN. So, pull the race card and sue.

You could try reading a wee bit more than just the headline.   

 

Maybe funny if a Mel Brooks movie (doubtful), but pretty sad in the 21st Century.  I hope the rest join in the lawsuit.

 

The flight attendant & pilot should be fired.

[ardsong]

Guess you have to check the Terms of travel with AA, whether body odor is in any way mentioned or be limited? guess not

Then, you have to define a method of measurement to reflect what body odor is acceptable , which is tolerable and which is offending;guess there is not one as smell is a very subjective issue. 

Then each plane should have that measuring device or trained nose? to confirm that the body odor  falls in the unacceptable category, guess there is not.

Good luck to the mal-treated passengers.

[john donson]

25 years ago I flew to china

 

there was an african man in typical robe and he said my seat is next to yours

 

he smelled horrible and 14 hours would be terrible

 

he was wearing open sandals and accidently stepped on his foot by moving

 

thank god he suddenly asked the waitress of the plane to go sit in another available seat, you know, when you still could do that

 

 

[rudi49jr]

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

Everybody who went to black Africa and attend a Discothek or any event with dancing sweating black people would know what the flight attendant was talking of.🙏

Yeah, only black men stink when they sweat, right? You should have smelled the locker room of my all-white soccer team after a game….

[JulesMad]

Typical american (Texan?) issue, and completely believable... Such a sad country 🤮

[EVENKEEL]

Perhaps we should wait till all the facts are known. Does Jesse Smollett ring a bell?

[Celsius]

If it is just BO then all the fat obese tat freak drunk before the flight brits arriving to Thailand should also be removed.

[roo860]

13 minutes ago, Celsius said:

If it is just BO then all the fat obese tat freak drunk before the flight brits arriving to Thailand should also be removed.

Try Indian Airlines. 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

You could try reading a wee bit more than just the headline.   

 

Maybe funny if a Mel Brooks movie (doubtful), but pretty sad in the 21st Century.  I hope the rest join in the lawsuit.

 

The flight attendant & pilot should be fired.

Wouldn't it be better to wait for the investigation, to see what actually transpired, before jumping to conclusions?

Surely you need to hear from both sides?

[KhunLA]

6 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Wouldn't it be better to wait for the investigation, to see what actually transpired, before jumping to conclusions?

Surely you need to hear from both sides?

All the black psgrs were pulled off ... what else do you need to know.  They all didn't know each other, or were not seated together.

 

Try to keep up ... 

Edited May 31 by KhunLA

[Rimmer]

A rather inflammatory post has been removed

[Caldera]

What a frivolous claim, what on Earth are they thinking?

 

Why would the airline remove them for being black? I'm quite sure they fly plenty of black passengers on any given day. Surely the explanation given by the airline makes a lot more sense. 

[KhunLA]

21 minutes ago, Caldera said:

What a frivolous claim, what on Earth are they thinking?

 

Why would the airline remove them for being black? I'm quite sure they fly plenty of black passengers on any given day. Surely the explanation given by the airline makes a lot more sense. 

So you obviously don't know what transpired during the whole ordeal 

[BritManToo]

58 minutes ago, Caldera said:

What a frivolous claim, what on Earth are they thinking?

 

Why would the airline remove them for being black? I'm quite sure they fly plenty of black passengers on any given day. Surely the explanation given by the airline makes a lot more sense. 

Easy to judge, if a number of black men were allowed to remain seated then no crime. If all the black men were removed then criminal.

 

Op claims 8 black men were removed.

 

Looks like the Airline are about to get a well deserved spank!

Edited May 31 by BritManToo

[RayC]

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Perhaps we should wait till all the facts are known. Does Jesse Smollett ring a bell?

 

Jusse Smollett? Are you suggesting that these men somehow staged this?

[RayC]

2 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Wouldn't it be better to wait for the investigation, to see what actually transpired, before jumping to conclusions?

Surely you need to hear from both sides?

 

Hopefully, the investigation will get to the bottom of things. However, American Airlines have commented and - at the risk of pre-judging matters - imo the absence of a "We vigorously deny all allegations of racial discrimination, etc ..." speaks volumes.

[EVENKEEL]

30 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

Jusse Smollett? Are you suggesting that these men somehow staged this?

I'm saying people shouldn't rush to judgement like they did in the Smollett case. 

[natway09]

We will never hear anything more !!!!

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, KhunLA said:

All the black psgrs were pulled off ... what else do you need to know.  They all didn't know each other, or were not seated together.

 

Try to keep up ... 

So they claim.

 

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

So you obviously don't know what transpired during the whole ordeal 

Neither do you. Only taking black passengers away doesn't happen. Not even in Texas. There's more to this story.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

I wonder if they had removed 8 white people, would they have pursued a lawsuit?

[EVENKEEL]

14 hours ago, stevenl said:

So they claim.

 

Neither do you. Only taking black passengers away doesn't happen. Not even in Texas. There's more to this story.

Agreed, way more to this story. I recently flew Houston to Orlando. I don't believe passengers were kicked off solely because of skin color.

[Hawaiian]

Excuse the pun, but something doesn't smell right.