American Airlines is facing a backlash from some employees over a recent decision to allow flight attendants and other employees to wear “Black Lives Matter” pins on their uniforms. There are many issues to unpack here.
American Airlines Designing Special Black Lives Matter Pin For Employees
American Airlines says this is not political:
“Clearly we live in a time where it is so important to have a dialogue about this important issue of racism in our society and try to find common ground…Fundamentally, Black Lives Matter is an expression of equality. It doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, rather that in our society black lives should matter and be valued the same as others. That’s not political.”
Sadly, that’s very political in our present political climate in the United States of America. Whether it should or shouldn’t be doesn’t matter.
Jill Surdek, American Airlines’ SVP of Flight Services, noted that specially-designed pins are on the way:
“American is truly committed to having an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all and a reflection of our country and world. One symbolic way to show our support is through a uniform pin. We are working with our Black Professional Network on designing a specific pin that may be worn with the uniform. In the interim until this pin is produced, to recognize the significance of this moment in history, we are allowing people to wear a Black Lives Matter Pin.”
This has led to backlash from some flight attendants.
Some Employees Are Angry
One AA flight attendant told the New York Post:
“I take offense to this. Serious offense. My husband is a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer), as was my deceased father and as far as I’m concerned ALL LIVES MATTER. I am completely disgusted at the fact that we can’t show support for our GOD, our COUNTRY, our LEOs but when it comes to BLM organization (which is controversial in itself), American Airlines says that’s obviously different. How is that right? Well, I don’t feel included.”
Another flight attendant told Fox News that she will wear a Trump pin if BLM pins are allowed. Others fear they will be branded racist if they do not wear the pin.
Some on the political right are calling for a boycott of American Airlines over this stance.
Pin-demonium At American Airlines
We talk about BLM as if it is a single entity, but it is really many smaller organizations. Thus, trying to pin down the movement on certain beliefs or statements is generally not helpful.
Nevertheless, blacklivesmatters.com, which holds itself out as an umbrella website for the movement, articulates a broader vision of justice than simply equal justice on the basis of Black skin color:
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
“We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).”
Or the BLM Washington, DC group, which describes itself as:
“BLM DC is a radical collective of Black artists, infrastructure builders and movement healers and strategists from the future, organizing in the here and now around two movement equations. These equations inform how we live as our highest selves while dismantling White Supremacy, Patriarchy, Capitalism, Imperialism and the role the state plays in supporting them.”
Overthrow capitalism? My point is that BLM, and by extension BLM pins, are inherently political.
And thus one should certainly be able to understand why some are uncomfortable with their company supporting such a movement. That doesn’t betray racism on the part of the skeptic.
I’ve made my own position quite clear…you can read that here if you are interested. I will add here the the concept of boycotting American Airlines over this is absurd, as if all other airlines have not jumped on the bandwagon.
I’m thinking through the repercussions of this and how I would style such uniform guidelines if I were in charge. I’m not ready to say “ban all pins” and certainly cannot sign on to an “anything goes” approach when it comes to wardrobe accoutrements. This is a very difficult issue. I’d welcome your thoughts on it in the comments section below.
CONCLUSION
American is “truly committed to having an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all and a reflection of our country and world.” I think we can all sign onto that. But I can certainly understand why the pin issue is divisive. More importantly, I would hope that we can all show that Black lives matter by our actions toward one another, not by a tiny pin on our lapel.
I believe the Christian pin should be banned. Christians through their evangelicalism have murdered millions of people throughout history and continue to do so with their racism. They are the original terrorists. All other religious groups learned terrorism from them. I don’t need a flight attendant shoving their non-existent God on my face when serving a drink. That is just absurd.
Matt, I take strong exception to your characterization of Christianity, but I do think your sentiment shows the problem of pins in general. Do you believe any pins should be permitted?
Why do you even bother responding to this level of ignorance?
I agree with Matt’s comment and you (Mr. Klint) should learn more about the history of your religion.
As to the point, I certainly support the goals of BLM but not sure I support the wearing of any pins by FA’s or uniformed employees in general. Given the politics of some companies, they may start demanding their uniformed employees start wearing Swastika’s.
I know Xtian history very well. Some of it is very gruesome. Only the ignorant, however, limit their analysis to their preconceived worldview. Furthermore, my objection wasn’t over history, but the penultimate sentence.
Some people object to the use of the word “Xtian” and “Xmas” because it is an “X” against Christ. I sort of agree but don’t engage in jihad of it.
Back to the subject of BLM pins, AA should just wait until it designed its own pin. Using the name of a politically controversial movement is acting too rash. Besides, having multiple pins doesn’t look professional. AA should not have any pins besides AA and flag pins of countries that FA speaks the language of. (Even that is problematic if they wear the flag of Taiwan, Republic of China because the People’s Republic of China is intolerant of that but not vice versa)
I used to think like that as well, but then someone explained to me that the X is not meant to cross out Christ or replace His name*, but as a reflection of His name in the original Greek, Χριστός (Christ).
https://www.vox.com/2014/12/14/7374401/jesus-xmas-christmas
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/why-is-x-used-when-it-replaces-christ-in-christmas/
*Actually, Jesus was His name and Christ was His office…
Now that we know that Black Lives Matters was formed for the violent overthrow of the US Capitalistic Government to replace it with a socialistic state of communism through rioting, terror, looting, arson, extortion, and force, we know that there is no place for these supporters on airlines. I fully expect TSA to stop this ridiculous following at airports and other federal agencies to begin arresting seditious perpetrators once they cross that gray line Beyer freedom of speech and terrorism/sedition. Seehttps://youtu.be/CaOooPBJZDs
These are communist socialists
https://youtu.be/rpLItQnrgec
https://youtu.be/8J68p5l-gjQ
https://youtu.be/rdpIIiBe7Wc
https://youtu.be/zlMAJ4xuIAU
Any pin any label any clothing that is worn anything except American Airlines worn by American Airlines employees is grossly totally thoroughly unacceptable. This is a business. Understand that it is a business. It is not a political entity. It is not social media And it is not private. I find the whole idea of it disgusting no matter what my personal believes may be. It is thoroughly unacceptable by any standard.If you go to a doctors office or a lawyers office do you want to see them wearing pins that support people or social issues that you disagree with? How about your religious leaders? Do you want to see them, the people you revere, wearing pins that may offend you? this is a real good reason to stop flying American.
I’m wearing a Motörhead pin. Lemmy rules
OMG
The only pin should be one to represent the airlines. If you don’t think BLM is a Terrorist Organization – then you’re only watching Main Stream Media and don’t see that they are terrorizing people, rioting, destroying, killing, burning and looting throughout America. This pandering to Terrorist has to stop. When they brought down the first statue and threw the first brick, it should have stopped. When you look back to racism and our history, whites were slaves , and not just indentured servants. Indians matter, Asians matter, Muslims matter – plenty of other groups have been discriminated against.
We’re SICK OF IT!!!! It’s DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!!!
I’ve cancelled my American Airlines card and will no longer use Un-American Airlines until this BS stops.
I say boycott AA. They have decided to be political and support a very dangerous group that their mission in life is to cause harm to people and property. They want to over throw our government and replace with a lawless social system. I’m cancelling my AA Advantage credit card and changing my airline of choice. No reply. They have screwed themselves! I hope more will join me!!
@Matt, you spelled Muslim wrong, FIFY, you’re welcome
I don’t recall anyone kicking up a fuss by saying “all cancers matter” when AA aligned itself with the Susan B. Komen foundation for breast cancer research. Support for one doesn’t mean lack of support for another. But congrats on the click.
That’s not the issue at all. The issue is the specific nature of BLM.
Debit hasn’t weighed in for a while. Has Debit been banned?
Nope. He told me he doesn’t have time for LALF anymore!
Such a shame.
There are plenty of alternatives … 😉
Burn Loot Murder
I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe with logical…by wearing a pin that state BLM…prior to the movement than black lives didn’t matter?
Absurd obviously. As is the whole self flagellation many whites are doing while screaming I’m privileged.
Like many good ideas, discussions, etc the whole thing has gotten way out of proportion. Black males are not systematically being slaughtered in the street by police officers. That is an undisputed fact. Is George Floyd an outrage? Absolutely an unequivocally yes. Officers were almost immediately fired and charged. Let the system work for gods sake. And for goodness sake study the data complied every year in the FBI Uniform Crime Report. Until we’re ready to use data to study a solution we’ll only be operating on sheer emotion. And no one will win
YPIAR
(Your President Is A Racist)
Unless UA-NYC is “BIPOC,” he is racist.
Exactly – BLM = Burn Loot Murder
@Chris@Oak
Lynch Every One (LEO)
Just playing with you because your comment was nonsense. Based on it, are we to assume you support the killing of unarmed and mentally ill people by police? BTW, almost all terrorist acts in the past decade have been by right-wingers.
BLM is a soros, City of London Rothschild’s funded creation. Core members are communists and anti Constitution. Please wear the pin if you want one world government!
No, BLM is a respectable government organization. Bureau of Land Management.
If an AA FA wears a BLM pin, you should loudly and enthusiastically thank them for saving the planet and making earth green. Support the Bureau of Land Management! 😛
If an ignorant FA on Anarchy Airlines wears a BLM pin, during snack/meal service, ask for their “Bacon Lettuce Mayo” sandwich.
You left out the Illuminati and fashion tips for your foil hat.
I believe all lives matter and that is what American Airlines should promote. We have multiple groups force feeding their beliefs to everyone, and we have the option to walk away from it or turn off the TV. However, on a flight I am held captive and do not have the sane luxury. How would other passengers react if someone came on the flight and talked about the people or group they support? There is nowhere to go and escape when on a flight. My suggestion to American Airlines is to be a leader and show support for all lives or do not do anything because of the diversity of their customers. Their actions of supporting a group that has expressed hatred and promotes violence could cause them more problems than they realize.
First the CEO promotes a book “White Fragility:Why is it so hard for White people to talk about Racism”
Then American Airlines Flight Attendant Union tell you where to go to March in the Black lives Matter and Gives you a list of what to do if your arrested , sprayed with mace etc etc. Which is a Marxist Group and doesn’t care about Black lives.
And now there are Specially Designing a BLM pin for the flight attendants to wear.. Yes I said Specially Designed.
This Carrier should not be allowed to use the word American.
Anarchy Airlines
(The racist, anti-Semitic, poverty pump, race hustling, shakedown fraud, Al Sharpton, and his mafia org, already took payouts (extortion) and got a global platform from AA.
But I’m guessing you think QAnon is really a thing…right?
Absolutely – Un-American Airlines. We will NOT tolerate this. Check out this video of the “peaceful protestors terrorizing a man and daughter….this is a mild example of their Terrorist ways.
https://www.facebook.com/gamergenki/posts/2785064825096505
I genuinely can’t tell if Matthew is a Trump supporter or not. My radar is usually impeccable, but he has so far evaded a judgement. Lucky, TPG, (and even Gary Leff I’d say) are definitely Dems, but Matthew is still a toss up.
Well done I guess???
Why do you care? Typical leftist attitude, don’t want to debate issues, just wants to cancel anyone who disagrees slightly from their dogma. What, because he’s a Christian, and doesn’t support your idiotic view that Christians are responsible for everything bad(I guess because white people are predominantly Christian, so this is just a white people are bad argument)? So soviet communism, pol pot, boko haram, al qaeda, Taliban, basically the entire ME, the axis powers of WW2, oh and basically all wars and violence during the entire existence of all mankind, that’s all the fault of Christianity? What a stupid ideology you follow. I can’t help but think you’re looking to blame someone for your own life failures.
Matthew is by no means a Trump supporter, I am though…at least I support his policies over those you radical leftists are promoting.
BLM is a terrorist organization. If you are asking if people support the 3 words, of course, but that’s about as deep as saying do you agree that the sky is blue. It’s the political action the group is advocating, and their violent and dare I say, fascist, methods that make them controversial. Allowing those pins and not other political views is clearly picking sides. Goodbye AA.
Mate you need to remember to take your pills in the morning.
I’m not even a leftist lol.
I would love to debate the issues with you and hate cancel culture
I don’t think Christians and Whites are the cause of everything bad.
For god’s sake man this is what’s so infuriating about the far-right. All I said was that Matthew conceals his political views very well. As far as I’m concerned that’s his business (it’s actually a fine choice).
You clearly have a lot of anger and I hope you get the mental health help that you need.
Here’s a thought… Why not say something intelligent, and – God forbid, useful and/or productive – instead of this useless, inane drivel?
I forget the post by Matthew but he mentioned working for the White House and the time frame indicated that it was for Bush 43, so he leans right. The thing is he’s not rabid about it like anybody who uses the term “Leftist” or calls someone else stupid because it’s easier than trying to muster a coherent argument. Gary at VFTW is a self-proclaimed Libertarian, so he’s leaning right as well although you don’t see it much in his writing. Ben at OMAAT is left leaning but he doesn’t go overboard either. I guess I should self identify in the interest of fairness: I’m a lifetime centrist Independent; my right wing friends call me progressive and my left leaning friends call me conservative.
@Christian
Thanks for the info. That’s very true. I’m an independent as well, a centrist, am called a socialist and a right-winger depending on the time of day and my company
I’m the John Roberts of the bloggers. 😉
Pretty much.
There should be backlash because for those that are silent and don’t choose to participate or take sides, this already has lead to being accused of being racist or indifferent.
I would no sooner join a march, a protest for any cause let alone one that is filled with violence, destruction and criminal activity (I particularly love the parents wheeling their young children in strollers alongside shouting, screaming, fist-raising radicals. One mother was actually nursing her child). And,…. I’m certainly NOT going to apologize for being white.
Systemic racism – that will only stop when people take responsibility for their individual lives and their families lives. Translation — Get an education, get a job, get married, raise children in a home with BOTH parents – mother and father instead of dumping them on grandma and passing the buck and blame onto everyone else. That is what MATTERS!
That says it all JoEllen .. Thank you
I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe with logical…by wearing a pin that state BLM…prior to the movement than black lives didn’t matter?
Absurd obviously. As is the whole self flagellation many whites are doing while screaming I’m privileged.
Like many good ideas, discussions, etc the whole thing has gotten way out of proportion. Black males are not systematically being slaughtered in the street by police officers. That is an undisputed fact. Is George Floyd an outrage? Absolutely an unequivocally yes. Officers were almost immediately fired and charged. Let the system work for gods sake. And for goodness sake study the data complied every year in the FBI Uniform Crime Report. Until we’re ready to use data to study a solution we’ll only be operating on sheer emotion. And no one will win
BLM is anti-math and anti-rationality. Data are useless against it.
Not sure I would go so far as to call BLM a terrorist organization, but it is definitely political, loaded with money, and its dealings well worth worth an audit.
Sounds just like the Trump Organization – Letitia James, do your thing!
@AlohaDaveKennedy,
Don’t mind UA-NYC, he buys into the “If it exists, it’s racist” mantra, the type that will hassle the flight attendants who DON’T wear a BLM pin and accusing them of be racist.
Trolls gonna troll.
Nah, just the people who worship the “many fine people on both sides” racist in the WH temporarily
I want a Christian Lives Matter/White Lives Matter/Conservative Lives Matter/Straight Lives Matter pin too. AA is getting into dangerous territory. Politics should be kept away from air travel. BLM is a political organization and movement that pushes anti white hate. It ignores the pandemic of black on white violence (which is disproportionately high) in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia.
AA should return its federal funding through the CARES Act unless it provides the pins for the above listed groups.
Interesting how you forgot one of the most stigmatized groups of all. How about a pen that says Jewish lives matter?
Interesting how you forgot one of the most stigmatized groups of all. How about a pin that says Jewish lives matter?
Who is going to make a pin for the “poor white lives,” and would anyone even wear one?
“Poor whites need Jesus and justice too”
https://twitter.com/drantbradley/status/1288953690846568448?s=20
This is completely political. And therefore totally inappropriate as part of an airline uniform.
Agree.
I think AA management is promoting conflict in the aircraft cabin. Is this what we really need? An inflight riot? How about getting back to professionalism and high standards like we used to have, and focus on providing quality customer service.
Doug Leja
Captain, Boeing 777
@Captain Leja, I salute you!
It’s part of the intimidation for shakedowns and hate hoaxes. Tamika Mallory tried this in Oct 2017, be behaving badly and disruptive (so common) and ultimately having a brave AA pilot asking her to be removed from a flight.
She’s the racist operative in Al Sharpton’s mafia (co-founded by her parents), and, she’s aligned to Farrakhan.
Stop the race-baiting shakedowns.
Leg
Room
Matters
This is a slippery slope. How do you separate the political from the universal? What is the point that a personal belief becomes objectionable? Should we allow corporate workers to also wear pins for planned parenthood or pro life groups? Why not go further and allow MAGA pins and pins supporting Biden. Any signifier of personal belief should be banned in the corporate world. There should be a clear separation between the personal and the professional.
Well said – nothing except the Airlines. BLM brings out the “fight” in everyone. AA will regret this.
Walking by the White House as I do twice a day, everyday, I was struck by one simple poster hanging from the fences that ring the compound that resonated with me, a white male in his 60s: ” BLM doesn’t mean black lives matter more; it means they matter too”. Our nation’s long and tortured struggle with racism, both overt and unintended cannot be denied as race relations and the exploitation of racism by evil people have caused 400 years of animus, division and misunderstanding. I work in law enforcement and have the privilege of knowing many white, black and hispanic law enforcement professionals. They are proud of their ethnic and racial identities AND of their chosen professions; the two things are not mutually exclusive or incompatible. What harm in a badge? Well, nothing until the next badge or pin promotes racism or hate or a political belief that is incompatible with our own … An uniformed Airline professional should be held to a neutral standard; wear the uniform with pride, do the job well and all of the rest will stand on those merits.,
Excellently Put.
I agree 1,000% That Pins, clothing, jellery etc Of “THIS BLACK LIVES MATTER”, HAS ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE IN THE WORK PLACE. I Diffinately Will Not Be A Customer Of American Airlines At All That Allow And Encourage This Kind Of Un-American Crap Of Black Lives Matter Crap Jammed Down American Lives. What Matters Is The Unconsible Un-American Dung!!!!
“Fundamentally, Black Lives Matter is an expression of equality. It doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter…”
Actually, it does!! And that’s a ridiculous statement by itself: people have been physically attacked *by BLM* for simply wearing shirts that say, “All Lives Matter”. BLM is just as bad as ANTIFA!
Businesses figured out over 100 years ago that mixing politics and business was a bad idea. Even as recently as 20 years ago, employees were forbidden to even discuss politics in the workplace, and at many companies, you could be reprimanded for it. Sadly, those restrictions have been lifted, and I think AA will face serious fallout from this.
BLM has started riots around the country. I’ll tell you what’s going through passenger’s minds when they see a BLM pin: “Is this flight attendant an activist?”, “Is he/she/etc a fanatic, and in a meth-crazed fit, going to ‘make a statement’ and bring down the plane?” Terrorists have brought down planes before, and tensions are running high as it is. Why the Hell would you allow flight attendants make political statements, equated with terroristic acts? It’s reckless & unprofessional.
Personally, I won’t ever fly with AA again; I have plenty of other choices!