WASHINGTON -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations said that nine American Muslims, most of them headed to Florida for a vacation with family members, were removed from an AirTran Airways flight Thursday afternoon at Reagan National Airport.
The group said the incident began when another passenger complained about something that was said while boarding.
"We were talking about seat placement," one of the detained passengers said. "We were in the back ... started talking about safest place to sit. Maybe someone gleaned into that that we were planning to do something to the plane."
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CAIR is involved -- sounds like another attempt to manufacture an incident.
American religious bigots frequently display this type of attitiude toward civil rights groups like CAIR. Perhaps it is a lack of education or an overexposure to right wing, nazi/republican/neocon propaganda that brings about such a reaction. However, if one objectively looks at the work CAIR does, one will realize that in addition to resolving very real cases of discrimination against american Muslims, they have managed to ensure american Muslims participate in the democratic process, are educated about their rights and responsibilities and have fostered the building of bridges between diverse american communities of faith. Most importantly, they have managed to keep american Muslim communities calm and part of the mainstream during what has been a very difficult 10-15 years (dating back to the Oklahoma City attack in the 90's).
I have heard nothing of the alleged incident involving the removal of nine Musliim individuals from an AirTran aircraft, but then again I am not in the country at the moment. I will reserve judgment on the case until I hear more, but I will say as someone that has been removed from an aircraft seat twice due to perceptions of my religious affiliation and/or national origin, that it is not a fun experience and that it has the potential to cause people to become very unhappy and ultimately not be very forthcoming/cooperative.
I hope AirTran -- and the pilot-- gets legally raked over the coals.
While at it, I hope that the the paranoid bigots on board the AirTran flight who turned them into the flight crew for no good reason are legally raked over the coals by the legal representatives of this family of 9 -- mostly US-born citizens -- that was subjected to the paranoid delusions of bigots. The least they should do is publicly release the name of those who initiated this harm by falsely flagging them down by seeing "terrorists" everywhere.
This kind of bigotry too but must be opposed and taken to task in a court of law.
I won't hold it against CAIR if CAIR's lawyers make some good money out of this too. Every last penny taken from those who defend bigots and bigotry is a legal advance for all Americans.
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This game is not as much fun as it used to be: 2008/2009 Frequent Flyer Program Fleecing Award goes to Delta Airlines
"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."
Yeah, it just so happened that they were of Muslim faith and appearance. A big coincidence and not related to the incident at all.
And what comments shouldn't they have made? That they could see the jets from the window? I could be missing something big here, but I just don't see the inappropriateness in those remarks. Or was it because they were made by people of "Muslim appearance"?
"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."
So, a "fellow" passenger heard a conversation between a husband and wife about the location of the engines on a DC-9 variant and called it in. Well, well, well - in the thirty something years that I can remember sitting next to the engines on Caravelles, Tridents, DC-9's and VC-10's, I can't tell you how many times someone or the other has made small talk about the safety or discomfort of being seated with one's head within a few inches of a jet engine (two on the VC-10). If that is all the conversation entailed, then I'm afraid the individual that made the complaint, any passengers that backed that individual up and any crew involved in making the decision need to be held accountable by whatever means necessary to deter others with racist/religiously bigotted tendencies from doing the same.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhlyingRPh
So, a "fellow" passenger heard a conversation between a husband and wife about the location of the engines on a DC-9 variant and called it in. Well, well, well - in the thirty something years that I can remember sitting next to the engines on Caravelles, Tridents, DC-9's and VC-10's, I can't tell you how many times someone or the other has made small talk about the safety or discomfort of being seated with one's head within a few inches of a jet engine (two on the VC-10). If that is all the conversation entailed, then I'm afraid the individual that made the complaint, any passengers that becked that individual up and any crew involved in making the decision need to be held accountable by whatever means necessary to deter others with racist/religiously bigotted tendencies from doing the same.
Yet another reason why the legal system does NOT need caps put on awards...FL needs to realize that behavior like this is DISCRIMINATORY, and not even offering to buy their seats on another airline after they were cleared is just...well...I don't have words for it.
I'm about to jump on a KHI-DXB flight in a few hours time. I estimate the triple seven will be packed to capacity with Muslim passengers, some of whom will undoubtedly be discussing whether or not the plane is safe. I think I'll look out for them and report their conversation to a crew member.
I'm about to jump on a KHI-DXB flight in a few hours time. I estimate the triple seven will be packed to capacity with Muslim passengers, some of whom will undoubtedly be discussing whether or not the plane is safe. I think I'll look out for them and report their conversation to a crew member.
I just flew PIA from Lahore to the UK the other day - I can assure you that all but about 5 passengers on the 777 were Muslims. The landing was a bit rocky and I heard lots of people discussing it. I'm calling MI5. I can't believe I waited this long!
No one seems to be getting that point.. they say they just mentioned the closeness of the engines, which is pretty mundane and acceptable. The spokesperson says they said something they shouldn't... which is what? Burden of proof is on the airline.
