American Airlines CEO Doug Parker attended a wedding over Memorial Day weekend…for a very special Southwest Airlines flight attendant he met while on a flight to Dallas earlier this year.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, The Wedding Guest
I outlined the story here. In short, Parker flew Southwest because American Airlines was full. Onboard, he was reading a book called White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism. A Black flight attendant onboard named JacqueRae Hill, not knowing he was the CEO of AA, struck up a conversation with him on the book.
At the end of the conversation, he told her he was CEO of American Airlines, shocking her. Turns out her mother works for American Airlines at Washington National Airport.
The two stayed in touch and shortly after the conversation onboard had dinner together with their spouses (or in the case of Hill, with her fiancé).
Over the weekend, Hill married Rashard Sullivan with a wedding in Dallas. Parker was an invited guest and attended.
Posting a picture of the bride and her mother on Instagram, Parker noted:
Last weekend, I had the honor of attending the wedding of JacqueRae Hill and Rashard Sullivan.
JacqueRae is a flight attendant I met a year ago while traveling on @southwestair. She started a courageous conversation with me about race in America and it’s one I’ll never forget. She continues to be a light that guides me as we work to tear down barriers that create systemic racism.
JacqueRae’s equally wonderful mother, Patti Anderson, does excellent work for @americanair and our customers at DCA. Thank you, JacqueRae, for including me, and my family, on your magical day. And thank you for the example and inspiration you provide to me and so many others every day. I wish you and Rashard all the best!
View this post on Instagram
CONCLUSION
I know that many of you did not buy into the story in the first place. I did…I still do. When in doubt, I’ll give others the benefit of the doubt. It’s a nice bookend to a nice story. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan.
Yay!!
It’s always nice to read a positive story. That’s great that they have continued to keep in touch.
So she pressured him and he folds like paper because it is easier and more pc to throw white people under the bus. Whites are responsible for nearly every technological innovation and comfort in history. It’s a big shame a company has someone like Parker in leadership who will sell out his people instead of fighting for the truth. Whites shouldn’t have to pander to false idols of diversity (anti white hate) to satisfy blood lust of groups that have proven to be nothing but a problem in every aspect.
Racism is an extremely complex issue. One component is appearance. That is why an attractive minority may receive less discrimination. An attractive white person suffers less, too.
Look at police shootings. Black women are spared much more than Black men.
Look at successful people. Fewer are obese.
Ugly People’s Lives Matter!
(Is this a joke?)
Mom is making a statement with that dress, and she looks great…
I agree with ALL of the comments above. You are all right: Yay! Positive stories are great! JacqueRae apparently did pressure Mr. Parker, and he folded to non-existent “systematic racism” in this country. Mom DOES look Great (and the beautiful Bride!), and yes, Derek – us ugly people DO matter!!
Our wonderful United States of America is the “Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave” – take personal responsibility, compete with YOURSELF to be your best, and it doesn’t matter whether you are green, purple, black, red, white, brown or blue – you can succeed in spite of the color of your skin. Be judged by the content of your character (thank you, Dr. King!)!
We are so fortunate to live in the United States, the greatest country on earth (still). Ms. Harris was in Mexico and Latin America trying to figure out what? – the “root cause” of why people are trying to break our immigration system and come illegally into the United States? Are you kidding me? Here you go, Ms. Harris – How about we’ll let you in and give you: Free lodging! Free food! Free health care! Free schooling! HELLO?! Anybody home at the White House, haha?! A fifth-grader could figure that one out!! If the current administration had to send the Vice President to Mexico and Latin America to figure that one out, then we the American People made a grave mistake last November…
But the bottom line to this story is: A wedding is a joyous occasion, validating God’s perfect plan for mankind – one woman, one man, for life (Genesis 2:24). I wish nothing but the best to Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, and to Mr. Parker for being invited and attending the wedding of a co-worker’s daughter, who works for his competition. Just put the politics aside, show friendship and love towards one another, and compete in the arena of ideas for the hearts and souls of Americans.
NGL this is a pretty cool read.
Apart from clearly being ignorant of history, Jackson Waterson, you might want to consider that your beloved white people are hailed as great intellects and inventors because history is written by them, and others were oppressed, enslaved, moved into ghettos, and what-not. It’s like saying all the great philosophers and scientists have been men – that would also be a) ignorant of facts, and b) ignorant of why that appears to be the case.
I hope you are never oppressed and never have to understand what it means and the multi-generational consequences. But you’d be well served to seek to understand.
Thanks for highlighting this positive story. We would all do better to learn from others that are different than ourselves.
Doug is so woke he makes Ed an Scott look like racists by comparison.
Did she confront him on race, or have a respectful conversation? Did you choose a word with a violent overtone for a reason?
Interesting that this occurred on the same day that “Spirit Airlines CONFRONTS American Airlines In Miami”.
I didn’t know confront had violent overtones, at least by necessity.
confront – to face, meet, or deal with a difficult situation or person
Confront doesn’t usually have a positive connotation, does it? I often find myself wondering if Matthew is a native English speaker. His usage is often stilted or awkward.
@Not Lucky
It is you who is ignorant of history. Slavery and oppression have been part of humanity for virtually all of recorded history. It is Westerners who first banned it. The Ottomans had slavery until well into the 20th century and white Christians were being enslaved in the Barbary trade at a rate higher than that of black Africans in the Americas for a time. Africa now has the highest rate of modern slavery. White supremacy in action, no doubt.
White Fragility is a racist book by a cretin, for cretins. How deliciously ironic is it that a white woman makes millions in profits off the suffering of black folx? The grift never ends.
I just want to know why so many white folks are so scared of anyone other than white folks? White people dominate every part of life in the US: politics, finances, arts and entertainment, sports ownership, media, big tech… come on people, the US minorities only represent a threat to you insofar as you believe yourselves to be victims. It is intellectually lazy (not to mention silly) for white Americans to paint themselves as the victims of some plot to take away their power and dominance; it isn’t possible based on wealth distribution, political dominance in State houses across the country and sheer numbers. We need to move on from this bogus nonsense. Celebrate the joy of the wedding, the good faith of the American CEO and the great gift it is to be an American where an FA and CEO can break bread together.
It’s nice to see the human side of aviation.
All I know is that I’m in my hotel room and about to confront my steak full on.
@Matt, maybe violent isn’t the right word, but confront definitely has hostile overtones. In fact, Google’s English dictionary defined confront as “meet (someone) face to face with hostile or argumentative intent”.
Is a black person speaking to a white CEO hostile? Are black people argumentative whenever they voice an opinion?
I’ll note that in your article about Spirit confronting AA, you also used the phrases “direct challenge” and “direct attack”. Would you substitute those phrases for “confront” in the title of this post? If not, then perhaps “confront” isn’t the right word.
#BLM