Flying The Un-Friendly Skies: Women’s March Activist Tamika Mallory Blasts American Airlines For Discrimination After Being Booted Off Flight
Murray Head / Splash News
Activist Tamika Mallory Removed From Flight Over Seat Dispute
American Airlines are in the headlines again. This time for removing Women’s March Co-Chair Tamika Mallory, who was flying home to NYC from the Revolt Music Conference in Miami to attend a wedding for Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter. Due to her dispute with the airline, she missed the wedding.
Mallory took to social media to air out her grievances with the airline.
I was just removed from an .@americanairlines flight because of white make aggression. I will fight this until I die!
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
According to Mallory, it all started when she changed her seat at an airport kiosk from a middle seat to an aisle. When she arrived at the gate she was issued a new ticket that returned her to the middle seat. She approached a gate agent to ask why and received a response that she tells NY Daily News was “nasty” and “disrespectful. Things only went further downhill after the pilot, overhearing the discussion, intervened, telling her the gate agent had “nothing to do” with her seat change and saying she was the one who behaved disrespectfully.
“Then he said to me, ‘Can you get on this flight? Are you going to be a problem on this flight?’ I said ‘No, I’m not. Actually, I’m fine. But I will write my complaint down,” Mallory said. “He looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to get yourself a one-way ticket off this plane.’”
Mallory was allowed to board the plane and was seated in her assigned middle seat when an announcement requested she come to the front of the plane.
When she arrived she says the pilot pointed at her and said, “Her, off.”
“I began to express my outrage,” Mallory said. “Then I asked why I was being removed. I asked why was this happening to me. I told him I felt completely disrespected. I began to weep.”
Mallory was not offered any explanation but police arrived and she and her travel companion were forced to leave the plane.
“It definitely was white male aggression. I was singled out, I was disrespected, and he was trying to intimidate me. I was discriminated against,” she said.
Definitely sounds like a terrible experience and we all know how these airine employees like to wield their power. But American has yet to apologize, instead offering this statement:
“Our team does not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” American Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed said. “We take these allegations seriously, and we are in the process of reaching out to our colleagues in Miami, as well as Ms. Mallory, to obtain additional information on what transpired during the boarding process.”
Meanwhile Tamika was hit with a bunch of tweets from people who don’t believe she wasn’t at fault. Peep her tweets below then hit the flip for her livestream.
Doesn't matter how much we do and how hard we fight, white men are allowed to treat black women like shit .@AmericanAir
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
& other ppl stand by and watch it happen because it doesn't affect them. If I have to fight alone, .@AmericanAir will NEVER GET AWAY W/ THIS
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
Correction: I was DISRESPECTED by an .@americanair employee and a pilot today.
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
This is not the first time ppl I know and love have been treated this way by .@AmericanAir. And by today, they have learned NOTHING!
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
Every @AmericanAir rep I've talked to told me the pilot mishandled the situation. He had no business getting involved in a seat dispute
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
The @AmericanAir pilot, before kicking me off the plane, asked me "are you gonna behave?" As if I'm not a grown woman worthy of respect…
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
Only reason this pilot got involved was to assert his white male power over who he thought was just some uppity black girl. That's it.
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
I'm lucky I have a voice that's listened to. But so many black women and girls don't. And this is how we get treated. Every damn day.
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
And this is what happens to black women who share our stories. People call us crazy, tell us we deserved it. pic.twitter.com/2gn0EfKXFZ
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
I get kicked off a flight for #FlyingWhileBlack, then am told I probably deserved it, or I must be lying. Because not one trusts black women pic.twitter.com/fsX1TYoTD9
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
Screenshots for days pic.twitter.com/n41Y7drEYV
— Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) October 15, 2017
Source: Flying The Un-Friendly Skies: Women’s March Activist Tamika Mallory Blasts American Airlines For Discrimination After Being Booted Off Flight
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