The Unfortunate Eight

There were two claims made at Obama’s Inauguration:

“This is the beginning of a new post-racial America!”

“He will never survive his term. Someone will shoot him.”

Both were wrong, sadly in one case, fortunately in the other. A refutation of “post-racial America” occurred when eight Black men were forced to deplane from a Phoenix — NYC American Airlines flight before departure. The eight men were not traveling as a group and did not know each other. When they gathered in the Boarding Area awaiting a replacement flight, they realized that they were the only Black people on the original plane. They asked for an explanation. They were told that a White male flight attendant had complained about their “body odor”. It turned out that all that fine print on the back of your airline ticket (The Contract of Carriage that no one reads) states that passengers can be refused service due to “body odor unless caused by disability or sickness.”

Apparently, only Black people emit “body odor” and all Black people do so. I frequently rushed to catch a flight home after a sweaty day working in New Orleans or Tampa. Lucky for me, “my sweat don’t stink”.

The Unfortunate Eight threatened a lawsuit. Cooler heads prevailed and the Eight were allowed to re-board the plane which was delayed more than an hour due to the situation. The other passengers blamed the delay on Unfortunate Eight. It was an uncomfortable flight for them.

Three of the Eight did submit a lawsuit this week. Obama’s Inauguration was fifteen years ago. Post-racial America is still not here.

By Ed Dufton