American Airlines is focus of NAACP travel warning
DALLAS — The NAACP on Wednesday warned that black passengers on American Airlines flights could be subject to discrimination or even unsafe conditions.
American’s chief executive officer said he was disappointed by the announcement and that the airline wants to discuss the matter with the civil-rights group.
The NAACP said it has documented disturbing incidents reported by black passengers. Among them were separate cases in which an NAACP official and another civil-rights activist were kicked off flights.
NAACP President Derrick
Johnson said group members are not boycotting American Airlines but that the number of events made them feel like they had to issue a warning.
“We’re not telling people not to fly on American,” he said. “We’re just saying to individuals that here is an advisory note. We have picked up a pattern of a certain behavior of this corporation and until further notice be on alert.”
American Airlines issued a statement saying that it serves customers of all backgrounds and has a diverse group of employees.
In a memo to employees, CEO Doug Parker said American endorses the NAACP’s mission statement against racial discrimination.
“We do not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” Parker wrote. “We have reached out to the NAACP and are eager to meet with them to listen to their issues and concerns.”
The NAACP highlighted four recent incidents in which black passengers said they were treated in a discriminatory way.
One involved the head of the North Carolina NAACP, the Rev. William Barber, who sued American after being removed from a flight last year. Barber said police were called and removed him from the plane after he asked a flight attendant to tell a white passenger behind him to quiet down.
Barber accused the other passenger of making a comment about having a problem with “those people.”
An incident last week involved Tamika Mallory, an organizer of the Women’s March on Washington in January. Mallory had changed her seat at an airport kiosk, only to be told at the gate that the seat had been assigned to another customer.
Mallory said she was treated disrespectfully by the gate agent — a black woman — and was angered when a white male pilot asked if she could control herself while on the flight.
After being told she was being kicked off the plane, Mallory called the pilot a racist in a profanity-laced exchange. She took a later flight home to New York on American, then held a news conference two days later and threatened to take legal action against the airline.
The NAACP called its warning a travel advisory, similar to the one it issued against Missouri in August after citing reports that blacks were more likely than whites to be stopped by law enforcement officers there, as well as other current and past racial issues in the state.
American, based in Fort Worth, is the world’s largest airline. The NAACP describes itself as the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil-rights organization.