jetblue can kiss my skinny white teez
Iraqi architect, activist and blogger Raed Jarrar took a JetBlue flight from New York to California last week. He was wearing a t-shirt that says "We Will Not Be Silent" in Arabic and English (produced by Artists Against the War and available here). Airline representatives and security personnel approached him, questioned him, and asked him to remove the shirt:
JetBlue has been my reliable first choice for getting back and forth between New York and Seattle for some time now--they're cheap and reliable, and I like the no-frills service and free DirecTV. I'm a member of their frequent flyer club. I have just written a polite-but-furious letter informing them that I will under no circumstances ever set foot on one of their planes again, unless the company makes a full and public apology to Raed Jarrar, and clarifies that it has no such policy forbidding the wearing of clothing or jewellery with Arabic inscriptions.
And if they do, I'll fly with them again--but I'll make sure to wear my favorite Rana Hajj
ar shirt (see right) every time.
Updated with contact info: the online compaint form is here.
Phone numbers:
U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE
Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
I asked him "why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights". So I answered him "I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt".Raed was forced to change his shirt in order to be allowed on his flight home to California. You can read the rest of his account here.
Then I once again asked the three of them : "How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn't this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?" so inspector Harris answered "you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank".
JetBlue has been my reliable first choice for getting back and forth between New York and Seattle for some time now--they're cheap and reliable, and I like the no-frills service and free DirecTV. I'm a member of their frequent flyer club. I have just written a polite-but-furious letter informing them that I will under no circumstances ever set foot on one of their planes again, unless the company makes a full and public apology to Raed Jarrar, and clarifies that it has no such policy forbidding the wearing of clothing or jewellery with Arabic inscriptions.
And if they do, I'll fly with them again--but I'll make sure to wear my favorite Rana Hajj
ar shirt (see right) every time.Updated with contact info: the online compaint form is here.
Phone numbers:
U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE
Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
posted by kitabet at 9:56 PM
7 Comments:
sepoy: yeah i have been wanting a beirut one also, but they've been sold out all summer, so i'm happy to just represent brooklyn for now. i'm also waiting for the london one to become available...may drop her an email. but i believe she has a day job and the design line is a side thing, hence probably the lack of updates.
and you bet i want to help! hmm, shall we be high-minded or vulgar? my turkish will accomodate both. we can send the proceeds to the center for constitutional rights or some equally deserving entity.
hey, i want to write a letter too. can you post an email address? thanks!
thariel: done. Damn, I was totally planning to use their NY-Nassau route for when we go to Cuba.
["you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank".........]
Am I dreaming?
No, this is too good. It's a gift. I love it when the idiots remove all ambiguity, and hand us all the ammo we need.
This whole f*cking country is so jittery right now, it's ridiculous. No toothpaste on airplanes, for crying out loud.
And if there's anything history teaches, it's that jittery people can be talked into anything.
Thanks to the article in the December 2006 Progressive, the incident has reached more people (BBC covered it when it initially happened, but no major American media). It begs the question as to if airlines personnel would object to script in any other language outside of North America and Western Europe. Indigenous Americans have enough well-grounded fears to keep all European-Americans, well, grounded. And quite frankly, what if I were to suspect that the person in the ticket line ahead of me looked suspiciously like the descendant of slave owners? Ethnic minority Ameican citizens could conceiveably find the grounds to prevent all 300 million Americans from boarding planes. Blowing my blood pressure into the stratosphere is not how I wanted to start the New Year off, but my first resolution is to get my hands on that shirt --and wear it everywhere and anywhere I can (I did already buy one at PakDayLA that reads "peace" in Arabic).
As for Jet Blue, well, I guess their progressive image is circumspect now.
It is clear that the JetBlue employees are ignorant - but at the same time, can you blame people who are tasked with ensuring the safety of millions of people with poor judgement calls from time to time? I was a flight attendant there for many years - and I have to tell you there was a time when someone's shirt scared me and I brought it to the attention of the captain prior to take off. I was just there to do my job and earn a living... they are just people - not the enemy - people who are scared that they may go to work and not come home. So yes it is your right to wear whatever you want with whatever statement you are trying to make - but consider the thought process of the workers, they are not fluent in other languages, they don't get paid enough to be, they are not filled with hate... they are just filled with terror - as was some idiots master plan - to fill americans with terror! So rather than encourage people to complain and take it out on people who just don't know any better, but were only trying to the right thing... why don't you just let it go? And to be honest with you I don't care for JetBlue at all - I chose to fly United, but at the same time - I don't think they were trying to infringe on your 'rights' so much as they were trying to ensure the safety of the other 100+ people on the flight... which as a last comment - other customers would be badgering the flight crew about your shirt more than the employees - I have seen it happen dozens of times. Perhaps sensitivity and compassion sometimes need to guide us in our decissions.
I personally agree with their policy! This is the U.S. after all and they are doing their job to keep us safe! Get over it already!
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