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| JetBlue, 2 screeners settle lawsuit with Iraqi |
| 2009-01-06 |
| JetBlue Airways and two airport security screeners at Kennedy International Airport have paid $240,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by an Iraqi passenger who said he was discriminated against because the T-shirt he was wearing bore Arabic writing, according to court records. The passenger, Raed Jarrar, 30, an activist and lobbyist who holds a U.S. green card and lives in Washington, D.C., said he was told to cover his shirt and forced to sit in the back of the plane on the Aug. 12, 2006, flight. The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union in August 2007 filed the case in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. When he arrived at Kennedy for a flight to Oakland, Calif., Jarrar wore a shirt that said, in Arabic and English, "We Will Not Be Silent," a reference to a nonviolent resistance movement in Nazi Germany that has been adopted by anti-war activists in the United States. One of the officials told Jarrar that wearing a shirt with Arabic writing was like "going to a bank while wearing a T-shirt that says, 'I am a robber,'" Jarrar said yesterday. Reached by phone, one of the defendants, Franco Trotter, now a security screening manager at Orlando International Airport, declined to comment. The other screener, Garfield Harris, a supervisory transportation security inspector at Kennedy, could not be reached. JetBlue said in a statement that it "continues to deny, outright, every critical aspect of Mr. Jarrar's version of events." Jarrar, a former architect who moved from Baghdad to the United States in 2005, said he now works as a lobbyist for the Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee, trying to forge connections between Congress and the Iraqi parliament and pushing to end the occupation of Iraq. About his experience, Jarrar said, "We are dealing with a mentality of discriminating against Arabs and Muslims and treating them as if they were criminals." Jarrar said the settlement sends a message "that discriminating against Arabs and Muslims is wrong and is illegal." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #9 "a reference to a nonviolent resistance movement in Nazi Germany" has he tried to wear it in Gaza? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2009-01-06 22:12 |
| #8 The passenger, Raed Jarrar, 30, an activist and lobbyist... Yeah, I'd say that qualifies him as an "asshole"... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-06 21:50 |
| #7 I think I wear the wrong shirts in the wrong country |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2009-01-06 21:44 |
| #6 You;ve got to hand it to this guy. Over a year ago he was blogging on behalf of the noble Al Qaeda led "resistance" in Iraq. When he got invited to the US and I bet he didn't have to go through this sh*t. Next he pulls a publicity stunt and is now $240K richer. Only in America! |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-01-06 20:27 |
| #5 Paid for by taxpayers, no doubt. If Jet Blue paid, they'll probably be reimbursed. It's time airlines adopt formal, strict policies about behavior and appearance. We need these scumbags off our planes. Let the airlines take it to Congress to pass some indemnity to cover them. They can take alternate travel methods, including walking. We must put a lid on this rabble now while we can. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2009-01-06 12:26 |
| #4 He should send it all to Gaza, it's such a good investment after all. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-06 11:40 |
| #3 The asshole left this comment at JammieWearingFool: dont worry, i'll get most of the money AND, I'm sending some of it to Gaza soon. thanks for the link raed jarrar | 01.05.09 - 9:26 pm | |
| Posted by: Cloluper Sproing7892 2009-01-06 10:22 |
| #2 That's the asshole that got $250,000 for being asked to change his shirt. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-06 09:45 |
| #1 Somebody instruct the State Department to stop improting crazy. We're all stocked up here. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2009-01-06 07:33 |