Four men have filed a lawsuit on Monday against American Airlines for discrimination. The four were asked to leave the plane allegedly because of their looks.
NBC New York reported that the four were racially profiled as Muslims and asked to take their belongings and leave the plane. The plane was supposed to take them back to New York from Canada. The man, identified only by the initials "W.H" together with three of his friends, Shan Anand, Faimul Alam, and another friend identified by the initials M.K. were asked by a flight attendant to "peacefully" leave.
The lawsuit stated that all four were sitting near the front of the plane and that made the pilot uneasy. Three of the four are of South Asian descent and one is of Arab descent.Three of the men were Muslims and one of them is Sikh. They are all born and raised in New York.
CNN reported that two of their friends who were Hispanic and a Pakistani were not asked to leave the plane but they paid $75 dollars to be in the same plane as their friends'. The lawsuit explained that the four men are looking for damages, alleging the airline "disgracefully engaged in the discrimination ... based on their perceived race, color, ethnicity, alienage and/or national origin."
Their lawsuit also demands $9 million dollars and a public apology from the airlines. The Republic Airways was the one operating the flight. They are a regional partner of American Airlines. While Airlines is reviewing the lawsuit, a spokesman for Republic Airways refused to release a statement on the suit.
According to CBS News the complainants said being escorted off the plane was embarrassing. "It was probably the longest walk of my life," Alal, one of the four men said. They also said that the way the attendant said it to them did not make things easier. They stated that they have heard of racial profiling but never experienced it. They explained that they thought this type of thinking does not exist anymore but experiencing it totally made them wrong.
The National Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ibrahim Hooper, said these kinds of thing will unfortunately continue. He added that it's very worrying that people have this outlook about Muslims and that they are dangerous just because of some perceived faith.
