Two black Muslim men are suing Alaska Airlines, claiming unlawful discrimination for their removal from a flight after another passenger expressed discomfort over their Arabic text messages. This an interesting case that is a bit more complicated considering the content of the text messages.
Alaska Airlines Discrimination Lawsuit from Black Muslim Men Center On Text Messages
On February 17, 2020 Abobakkr Dirar and Mohamed Elamin were seated in first class waiting to fly from Seattle (SEA) to San Francisco (SFO). Both are U.S. citizens born in Sudan. The two men were colleagues in a medical transport business and planned to purchase vehicles in the Bay Area and drive them back to Washington state.
Prior to takeoff, the two men conversed in Arabic. Dirar also messaged a friend in Arabic. The passenger sitting next to Dirar was alarmed by the text messages, grabbed his stuff, and told the flight attendants he would not fly on the same plane as Dirar.
Alaska Airlines instead removed Dirar and Elamin. The captain also ordered the lavatory tanks to be emptied because one of the men used the lavatory. A police dog also screened luggage for explosives. The two were not even allowed to fly together on a later flight after they were cleared of any wrongdoing.
And if that was the end of the fact pattern, then I would say the two men have every right to launch a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and seek major damages.
But there’s a twist to the story. It was not just the Arabic in the text messages that raised alarms, which could be chalked up to ignorance-driven discrimination, but an emoji and a reference to 911. Amongst the chain of messages that the snooping seatmate witnessed was the numbers “911” and also a rocket emoji.
The 911 reference was said to be a joke from Dirar’s friend, who claimed that was his wife’s number, since her calls have to be taken seriously and immediately. The rocket, which Dirar deleted, was in response to a photo, which Dirar meant to describe as “the bomb” (a dated reference to being cool).
The lawsuit claims Alaska Airlines chose to “self-servingly discriminate against [the men] based upon their perceived religion, race, color, ethnicity, alienage and national origin by using Plaintiffs as scapegoats in an admittedly unjustified and unnecessary display of security theater.”
Although the incident occurred in late 2020, a lawsuit was only filed last week by the local office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington state. The men seek monetary damages and for Alaska Airlines to provide racial and religious sensitivity training to employees.
And of course as a white Christian man who was thrown off a United Airlines flight for using the word “terorrist” in what I thought was an innocuous way, there is a special level of sympathy between me and the displaced passengers.
> Read More: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures!
But it wasn’t just the Arabic. The rocket emoji plus reference to 911 plus the deleted emoji plus traveling in a pair…we are only human and I get that the combination of all factors raised alarm.
I do think the two should have been allowed to fly once re-screened (have we any trust in our security apparatus?) and that once the matter was clarified, if any other passengers were uncomfortable flying with the two men, it was on them.
CONCLUSION
From my vantage point, the emoji and 911 reference makes this more complicated than pure discrimination against blacks or Muslims. I don’t condone discrimination against people on the basis of their religion or color nor do I applaud a seatmate reading his neighbor’s text messages. I wasn’t there, but probably would have said nothing if I had witnessed what the frightened seatmate did. But if you’re honest with yourself, you might also be a bit concerned too if you saw all those factors at once.
What happened to what my kids learned in kindergarten? “Mind your own business!”. Why do people have to look into other people’s screens?
Agreed that this whole issue could have been avoided by not snooping.
Ever since 9/11 it has been drilled in to us “if you see something, say something”. Heck, the dhs still has a whole website about this so I imagine that will be part of the defense.
I think some forget the anxiety some people used to feel just having a middle eastern person on their flight. This complainer might just be a throwback to the early 2000’s.
He also could have been talking about his Porsche 911. Presumably with our ace TSA security checkpoints and barricaded cockpit doors, what was the risk? It would be more concerning on a train, say, where security is looser.
I hope they win. The complainer should been allowed to leave the flight.
As for the captain draining the toilet tanks, that’s taking the concept of explosive diarrhoea too far.
+1
Reminds me of the helicopter scene from The Dictator. A classic!
What does the fact that they are black have anything to do with this? So you are saying if it were two white
muslim guys, then people shouldn’t be scared? Come on, Matt
Don’t put words in my mouth Mr. Justice. That’s not at all what I said or meant.
I’d have to agree with Joseph.
Why is skin color relevant enough to warrant a headline highlight? If skin color was indeed important then why not add a mention to the skin color of the passenger who wanted to deplane along with that of the idiot pilot and his crew too, for good measure.
The seatmate’s fear and the pilot’s response is hate wrapped in ignorance, tied with a white supremacist bow. I wish I could boycott Alaska Airlines for this, but there isn’t a US carrier which hasn’t engaged in similar behavior.
Based on the reference to “911” or “9/11” and the bomb emoji, the passenger and the airline had a legitimate concern for terrorism, not a pretext for racial discrimination.
One of the men even admitted that it was a joke (see above article). Jokes are taken seriously regarding air travel.
The case should be dismissed on summary judgment. That’s not supposed to be done if there is a question of fact but is actually done very often. One example is during wrongful termination lawsuits. There is a question of facts but many are still thrown out on summary judgment.
The airline could have handled it better, but IMO, it was very uncomfortable combination of factors which understandably raised some nervous alarms in someone who remembered the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath of worldwide horror and fear.
And your takeaway from the 9/11 attacks, which killed more than those “19”, is that a whole lot of jobs were created?
I think we have a case of flight attendants behaving like the language police.
Better to err on the side of caution. This is a ploy to get money, plain and simple.
Indefensible!!! 9/11 happened nearly 21 years ago. This is a matter of discrimination pure and simple, from the passenger, to the captain, to the gate agents that separated the men, Just because YOU may be uncomfortable with an Arabic speaking man referring to a call from his wife as 911, or saying something is the bomb, doesn’t mean it’s illegal, suspicious, or worthy of concern. Any other conclusion means you DO think these men are more likely to commit a terrorist attack just because they’re Arabic speakers. I hope they prevail in their lawsuit.
People talk about 9/11 pejoratively and true the events were tragic and the collateral damage heart breaking but do you realize those 19 people handedly gave up their lives and created so many jobs in return?
TSA, DHS and all the countless overtime that the men in blue cashed in. Dick Cheney and al the Republicans made bank because the US spent trillions on some war. Those trillions went to private companies owned by those Republicans. Those 19 men deserve a medal and their own memorial in new York.
Or maybe trump deserves to be in prison.
I can bet $1 some economist is going to take this and in the future make an edgy argument in a controversial article about the stimulative effects of 9/11 and they will be called on TV to be interviewed. Just watch.
Black AND Muslim thats like double oppression delusion.
Hi Matthew.
I really enjoy your site, but you are becoming increasingly judging in your posts:
“But it wasn’t just the Arabic. The rocket emoji plus reference to 911 plus the deleted emoji plus traveling in a pair…we are only human and I get that the combination of all factors raised alarm”
I do not see any factors for raising alarm at all. Rocket emoji can mean a lot of things, 911 can be any number… and travelling in a pair? You do realize how many passengers are flying with another person, this applies to muslims as well?
Please be aware that you have a responsibility (whether you like it or not) towards all people reading your webpage. I do sincerely believe that your post will further hatred towards the muslim community, although I know this is not your intention.
Every day, millions of Muslims are in the air all over the world. 9/11, although how disgusting it was, is a very long time ago, and we cannot keep blaming Muslims for all of our own securities towards foreign people.
Keep up the good work, but please be aware of the impact your voice has. Be inspiring instead of polarizing.
Hi Kenneth,
I appreciate your comment. I think you’ll see in my upcoming Middle East trip report that I go to great lengths to lower barriers between cultures and I have no prejudice against Muslims. In this instance, I would not have said anything if I was the seatmate onboard. That said, I maintain that the combination factors raised concerns that were not wholly unreasonable.
9/11 resulted in more Muslim deaths in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East then every terrorist attack on American soil. No one is more traumatised by 9/11 than the Muslims, so please think again about who has the right to feel human or not.
The airline could have handled it better, but IMO, it was very uncomfortable combination of factors which understandably raised some nervous alarms in someone who remembered the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath of worldwide horror and fear.
And your takeaway from the 9/11 attacks, which killed more than those “19”, is that a whole lot of jobs were created?