Best not to be reading books about airplanes on an airplane if your skin isn't pale

By adamg on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 9:42am

Vance Gilbert of Arlington recounts what happened after he settled into his seat on a United flight out of Logan:

I had taken out and was reading a book of Polish Aircraft circa 1946 and I was also looking at views of an Italian aircraft from 1921. ...

Free tagging:

Logan Airport

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Comments

ridiculous. last weekend i

By CaT on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 10:02am.

ridiculous.
last weekend i was on a bus from canada to the us. the man next to me (not pale either), was ordered "into the other room for investigation" because they saw a scarf in his bag. the scarf was from velvet and red, not particularly for a man, perhaps, and the officer asked him: "is this you scarf?!" yes, it is. "hmmm, are you SURE this is your scarf?" yes, it is mine. "ok, now come with me, get your baggage. here. NOW". he was treated without any respect, they questioned him for an hour (in the other room), and then could just get back onto the bus; most likely there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. but yes, we were all sitting there, waiting, and we all stared at him when he got back in. just sad.

This is what you get when you

By Saul on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 10:50am.

This is what you get when you have a government agency (DHS) that encourages us to report anything that might in any tiny way appear "suspicious" to the most imaginative mind. "OMG! There's a passenger on my flight reading a book about old planes. What evil thoughts must be running through his mind? He must be planning on throwing that book at me and charging the cockpit! Police!"

It's disgusting and paranoid behavior on the part of the flight attendant.

"If you see something, say something"

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:30am.

What bugs me is that absurd "if you see something, say something" policy on the T, and the endless audio and print messages about it. If I reported every odd looking person or strange behavior I saw on the T I would be doing nothing else all day!

Playing the race card early

By Kaz on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:42am.

What happened to this guy is appalling...because it's just another over-anxious busybody who has now been given a position of some little bit of power. This leads to them using it at whatever their misinterpretation of profiling data has suggested is "worth checking out"...and we're all a little less free as a result.

I'm talking about reading about airplanes on an airplane.

There's nothing about his story (and this is *his* interpretation of the event...so why is it so neutral on this) that leads it to be racial profiling except that he is black. He asks about the white woman across the aisle (and it's aisle, not isle, buddy) who "disappears the whole flight" but was she reading a book on airplanes wherever she went? We just can't conclude from the info given that this had anything to do with his race even if he'd like to.

In fact, I submit a thought experiment equivalent and contrary to his. What if the entire rest of the plane, passengers and employees, were all black as well. Would he not have been profiled or is this really about him wanting to keep his bags close and what he was reading being misinterpreted by the plane's crew, and not about his race?

However, back to what did happen, I will say that given that he is black and was the "cause" of the delay, it was probably more uncomfortable for him than it would have been if it'd been me afterwards. That has more to do with the added question of race that some portion of the rest of the plane would have added to their own conclusions and that is unfortunate.

Over-reaction in the airline industry is a huge problem. But that's what he ran afoul of and it's not determinable if it was also due to his race or just some safety bulletin that came out that morning that warned the crew to be aware of passengers reading "plane manuals" because of some snippit of a Jihadist phone transmission from 2 weeks ago that finally trickled down to an action item or something that was fresh in the crew's head.

Weak counter-argument

By JohnAKeith on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:48am.

Your defense of the indefensible is why this sort of thing keeps happening.

Ah, right

By Kaz on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:51am.

Sure, I "defended" what exactly?

Another thought experiment

By Dan Farnkoff on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:17pm.

Closer, I think, to "real world" than your theoretical about the all-black flight. Blonde white guy who insists on keeping fanny pack close and reads book about airplanes on plane. Cops, investigation, and hour-long delay? Hard to say. Tough to prove either way.

Reading about war planes from

By BostonUrbEx on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:50am.

Reading about war planes from the 20s to 40s? Oh my god, he must be using them to learn how to hijack this modern jumbo jet!

Bunch of idiot flight attendants who shouldn't have that kind of job.

Also; I doubt this has to do with race. What should be under scrutiny here is that he was called out because of the book he was reading. That is ridiculous.

Not so sure

By anon² on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:58pm.

If it was a white guy in a polo shirt reading about airplanes, would you get the same result?

While I don't think it's a racist move, there's definitely more scrutiny of darker skinned people, especially with frantic people with their heads not screwed on right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tIVhI_8m0Y

Polo shirt

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 2:45pm.

If it was white guy in a polo shirt the police I would have called would've been the fashion police.

We don't know

By Kaz on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 3:17pm.

The thing is that we don't know how it would have gone down for a white guy in exactly the same situation because we don't know the motive behind the reporter (crew member/passenger/etc) who chose to make a situation out of this.

What makes this case racism? Because in hindsight the book that he was reading was innocuous and he actually did only have his wallet in his fanny pack? So, what if instead the reason that the person reported him was that his carry-on baggage started beeping is it suddenly not racism to check him out? So, what is the difference? He would be black in both cases but in one he's reading a book on airplanes and in the hypothetical his baggage is beeping (it was an alarm clock he forgot to turn off by the way). So, it's not racism if YOU want a beeping baggage checked out but not someone reading up about airplanes...but it is racism if someone's threshold for airplane safety is tuned tighter or their mind ran wild with the coincidence of his fanny pack not being stowed and his choice of reading material? That's not his race coming into account.

The problem here is the multiple independent testing statistics of having people who are expected to treat ALL of us like we're each a potential terrorist when in reality the odds are closer to 1:1,000,000,000 that any of us are. It creates a hyper-sensitive environment that doesn't require racism to set off hair triggers. False positives are galore because the familywise error rate EASILY overwhelms the power of the security tests and checks available to us.

Was the crew member overly sensitive AND it was partly because of his race? We'll probably NEVER know...but to assume it up front even having only the victim's account of the event is inconclusive at best. Even in his own account, there was no overt or even hidden evidence of racism...except that he was black.

We'll never know

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:54pm.

But the fact that he was black and the fact that, to him, he was being singled out by white flight attendants because he was black doesn't makes it an issue. Also, because a racist-ass staff kicked a black man off a flight for reading a book about biplanes.

Way to lard up the term ivory tower with even greater connotations.

Hmmm...

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:15pm.

So an overly sensitive gay guy was asked a few questions? I am assuming he is gay by the letter (life partner and poodles) and he was wearing a jimmy buffet shirt and used the word 'vintage' several times. See how I profiled there? See how he was overly emotional? See how stereotypes can sometimes be true.

yes, you can quote the 'those we give up liberty for security deserve neither' but if we didn't live in an overly PC world, maybe several thousand people would still be alive after 9/11/01. Oh no, the 9/11 arguement!!!!

Hey, did you racists know that Italians were put in interment camps in the US just like the Japanese during WW2 here in the US? They don't cover itin the history books.

So if the guy was white, he wouldn't be crying for attention on the internet? Aren't you all just assuming the flight attendment called the pilot and said "some darkie is reading a book about planes and put his bag behind his legs!" or did she say "The guy in 4C did XXX?" See, you don't know, do you?

This iw why the world hates the US. You've rather one person not get offended, while others suffer. Oh well.

Dear "Italo-American"

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 3:15pm.

Shove off. I used to have to listen to Italians justify racism of all sorts because undocumented alien Italians were imprisoned during World War II. Funny, that, because my grandfather and a hundred thousand other Americans of Italian descent fought in the war while their families lived freely in neighborhoods like their old stomping grounds in Newark's Ironbound.

Let me ask you a question: How do you see the traffic behind you with that American Flag-and-Eagle decal on the back window? I realize gay folks are a new thing to most "Italo-Americans" but here in the rest of the world they're people we live with, work with and share families with on a daily basis. I'm glad you felt you were free to add your assumption that this gentleman is gay -- based on your meatheaded sixth-grade schoolyard sterotypes -- but there's nothing "overly sensitive" about not wanting to be thrown off a plane for reading a book. Maybe if you ever left the world within a mile radius of grandma's dinner table, you'd understand that -- yep, profiling's really fun.

Are you sure the world doesn't hate us because of our continued presence in their countries, our overconsumption of every resource we can get our hands on and people of your ilk who rent shore houses, speak in loud unintelligible english and show little ability to do anything other than fight and screw?

Let me say this in words you'll understand, stunod: Geddafugouttahere.

not gay.

By amusings on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 9:19pm.

Vance isn't gay - his "partner" is female, and there just isn't a term for someone you've been living with for a million years that you're not married to.

And I believe, if memory serves correctly, the poodles are standard sized, badass big poodles. not fluffy little go to the groomers ever saturday and have their nails painted

you, anon, have jumped to a conclusion just like the flight attendant did. Based on stereotypes.

Well done. United Airlines would like to hire you.

if only

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 9:25pm.

if only you were right, which you're not.

Sorry, not buying the race

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:56pm.

Sorry, not buying the race angle, Vance.
Not when a middle-aged white guy like me has to submit to getting his bag swabbed to catch a train.
Not when my 77 year old invalid Dad had his wheelchair swabbed to get on a flight.
It's bullshit but it's not necessarily racist bullshit.

As for the blond guy experiment, I bet I'm not alone when I'd personally be more suspicious of a profile that fit right-wing terrorists of the recent past then I what appears to be a non-pale American.

Were you boarding the moron train?

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:56pm.

That would explain a lot, since it would take a complete moron to think that getting your bag swabbed and your dad getting his chair checked are equivalent to getting dragged off a flight for reading a book.

Your high-class problems bore me.

50/50

By mikey on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:59pm.

I am not entirely convinced that this was caused by race, but I can understand that concern that it MAY have been caused, in part, by race. I'd like to think that it wasn't caused by race. I think more likely would be fellow passengers probably saw the preference to keep his bag with him, and then with the airplane book, and overreacted. Personally, I don't really see the connected between early-mid 1900s European avaiation and possible terrorist threat. But there are some nutjobs out there. I think a fellow passenger may have reported it as 'suspicious'. That could have been partly due to race, but it sounds like the actual process of questioning, etc., by the authorities, was not race-related.

I'm not sure how it would

By vne on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 1:42pm.

I'm not sure how it would work but I feel that it would be beneficial to have something similar to the right to face your accusers in cases like this. If someone is going to be taken off a plane by authorities (which makes them look like a criminal to everyone around them, regardless of whether they are or not) then the "complainer" should also have to deplane and meet with the officials and the "suspect" and articulate exactly what was suspicious. And if the complainer ends up looking like an idiot, well, they'll have learned a valuable lesson.

flying while black?

By anon on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 2:26pm.

You should try Flying-While-Bangladesh-ian, and an islamic-sounding name.

My roommate flies several times a year for family and academic purposes, and is routinely pulled off the plane after boarding for a "random security screening", interviewed at length in a holding room, and his luggage thoroughly searched.

You'd think at some point there would be case notes somewhere that say "harmless researcher from Boston", but no.

I have a friend who is

By Daan on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 2:38pm.

I have a friend who is subjected to greater surveillance than I am when flying. There is no obvious reason for that other than the fact that he looks like he might be Arab. It turns out that he comes from the Caribbean. But when comparing his appearance to that of men from the Middle East he could easily fit in a lineup.

If this fellow was white he would not have been subjected to the interrogation and intimidation.

Of COURSE it's not about race

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 3:02pm.

This is Boston. It's never about race here. All of the apologists above can stick it, because there's no way this happens to Patty McGann from Danvers.

I've been pulled out of line,

By patty mcgann on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 4:40pm.

I've been pulled out of line, XRayed and patted down and I'm extraordinarily Caucasian. Also, Adam loves to race bait. It makes him feel less guilty for being a pale face.

Nope, no difference there

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:46pm.

Absolutely no difference between getting patted down on a security line and having an entire flight halted, being dragged off for reading a book and missing the remaining segments of your flight. Nope, not at all.

And it wouldn't take a completely coddled crybaby to try to draw equivalence between the two. Nope, it wouldn't take the biggest prick alive to try to compare the two situations like a completely detached moron. Nope, not at all.

Yeah look it sucks that this

By anon on Sun, 08/28/2011 - 4:36am.

Yeah look it sucks that this happens to you and all but it's incredibly disingenuous to try and deny that increased measures are practiced more usually on people of color. It's like trying to argue that the LAPD in the late-80s/early-90s wasn't racist because they arrested white people once in a while.

It always seems . . .

By Chris Dowd on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 4:19pm.

. . . to be United or American Airlines that do this crap. I like Jet Blue- their flight attendants and captains often make veiled fun of TSA security theater and seem to have contempt for it.

Somebody might be racist - but it wasn't the State

By issacg on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 7:58pm.

I feel bad for Mr. Gilbert, and I think that what happened is certainly a shame on United.

I think it necessary to point out, however, that the objectionable behavior was exhibited by employees of the private air carrier. By Mr. Gilbert's own account, the State Police treated him with respect and courtesy. It also does not appear from this account that the TSA personnel did anything untoward, either. This does not surprise me: I worked very closely with the MSP at Logan, and much that work centered around ensuring that everyone understood what was constitutional and what wasn't. Are there some knuckleheads there? Yeah, but there are in every single organization, and I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of these men and women are good (some great) cops, and good cops know when something is really wrong and when it's not. State Police assigned to Logan also receive a lot of special training in matters like this - training that the ACLU had a hand in reviewing - and people come from all over the world to be trained at Logan. That says something good about that training, considering that many of the people I met came from countries with much more experience with terrorism than we have had.

As for the cabin crew, well, they look like asses. They are obviously not as well trained in recognizing what is a real problem and what is not, but that's not too surprising either. Their training is still, and properly so, mostly focused on aircraft evacuation and similar things in the case of an emergency. The get more security-type training than they used to, but this is not supposed to be their focus.

It does not excuse this sort of thing, but understand that many of the flight attendants at Logan personally knew those attendants who were murdered on 9/11. Not one of them wants to ever find themselves in the position that those poor people did. As a result, many have hair-triggers, so I can understand how this happened.

The same goes for the Captain and First Officer. All they know is that they got a call from the cabin that something doesn't look just right to someone. They are not in a position to assess the quality of the report from the cabin, as they are in the fortified cockpit. I defy anyone to find a Captain or First Officer who takes a plane into the air after receiving a report like that. He or she is responsible for everyone on that aircraft, and my bet is not one of them is going to run the risk of ending up in the horrible position that Captain Saracini of United 175 or Captain Ogonowski of American 11 found themselves in.

You might not like it folks, and I sure as hell don't, but this is the reality that is going to be around for many more years - at least a generation of employees - before anything changes. The worst case scenario happened to friends of these people, and if one of them for any reason - whether we in hindsight think it was justified or not - thinks it might happen again, they are going to do whatever is in their power to stop it. And sometimes, unfortunately, they're going to be wrong.

Somebody "might" be racist in this situation

By BigSwinginMick on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:49pm.

Just like clear skies "might" be blue and most school buses "might" be yellow.

Just keep looking away, Boston. Nothing to see here.

Oh there "might" be something to see, but you have to look first

By issacg on Sun, 08/28/2011 - 11:15am.

I presume that you comment was directed to me as "Boston", rather than the flight attendant - only because it would be too easily to dismiss otherwise, had we information such as it was a Chicago-based or Washington-based flight crew.

The short and long of it is that I wrote "might" because I am not willing to peg someone as a racist (which I think is a pretty heavy hit) without more info. How do I know that the flight attendant wasn't black? If she is not black, how do I know she isn't married to a black man? How do I know that she isn't a single white woman who lovingly adopted a black child? If any of those things were the case, it would be pretty difficult for any objective person to peg the attendant as a racist.

And then there is always the bigger question - how do I or you know that Mr. Gilbert did not have something that looked like a fuse hanging out of his shoe or have some other object that, while not of apparent concern to him - might have given a flight attendant cause for concern? For that matter, how do we know that the flight attendant wasn't in fact responding to the concern of another passenger on the plane (which for the reasons I discussed in my original comment, she is more or less obligated to do)? We don't.

If I'm looking away, it's only because I'm looking for other evidence to support a finding of racism rather than just half-blindly accepting that premise.