In an interview with NBC News, two men shared that they were targeted for being Black and remain deeply affected by the encounter.
Three Black men filed a federal lawsuit against American Airlines on Wednesday, alleging racial discrimination after they were reportedly removed from a plane due to a body odor complaint. The incident occurred on January 5, when the men boarded a New York City-bound flight in Phoenix. According to the lawsuit, an American Airlines employee asked eight passengers, all Black men, to leave the plane. Three of these men are now plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs — Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal — did not know each other and were not seated together, as stated in the lawsuit. In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Jackson and Jean-Joseph expressed that they felt targeted because of their race and were humiliated by the incident.
“Being grouped and removed hits all these trigger points of things that I don’t think should happen to Black people anymore,” said Jackson, 27.
Jean-Joseph added that the men were made to look like criminals as they walked down the aisle. He has not flown since the incident and broke down while reliving it on Wednesday when the lawsuit was filed. “It still affects me,” he said. “When I do get on a plane again, it’s going to be something that haunts me.”
In a statement, American Airlines said it was investigating the incident and that the “claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”
“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” American Airlines said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York, all eight men were allowed to reboard the flight about an hour later after complaining about discrimination and because the airline could not book them on a later flight.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages to be determined in a jury trial. “They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit also alleges that American Airlines has a documented history of mistreating Black passengers. It cites a 2017 NAACP travel advisory that warned Black passengers their safety could be compromised if they flew American Airlines, referencing a series of “troublesome conduct” by employees at that time.
At the time, then-CEO Doug Parker stated that the company does not “tolerate discrimination of any kind” and mentioned that American Airlines had reached out to the NAACP to discuss concerns.
