What is behind the latest allegation of discrimination against Arab passengers?
DELTA AIR LINES found itself at the centre of a social-media storm when Adam Saleh, a YouTube personality who posts about life as a Muslim American, was removed from one of its flights for—apparently—no greater crime than speaking Arabic. Mr Saleh is not the first passenger of Middle Eastern descent to allege discriminatory treatment by airline staff and passengers. But, true to his profession, he may be the first to have recorded an encounter in real time (see link). At the time of writing, nine hours after disembarkation, his video had been retweeted an incredible 556,000 times on Twitter.
According to Mr Saleh, who has 2.2m followers on YouTube, the incident began when he telephoned his Arabic-speaking mother while waiting to depart from London for New York. At this point, he claims, a female passenger told him to speak in English—kicking off an angry exchange between him, the woman and her husband. At some point between that encounter and the beginning of the video, more than 20 passengers reported feeling uncomfortable about Mr Saleh’s behaviour. He was subsequently removed from the flight.
“We spoke a different language on the plane, and now we’re getting kicked out,” the YouTube star says in the recording, which begins as he is being escorted down the aisle. “This is 2016…you guys are racist. I cannot believe my eyes.” At least one fellow passenger speaks out in Mr Saleh’s defence, while several others appear to jeer at him by waving and exclaiming “Bye!” The celebrity asserted in subsequent tweets that he was questioned by police before being allowed to board a different flight to New York.
Amid the understandable outrage being expressed on social media, it behoves a calm-head to highlight what we do not yet know about the incident. While Mr Saleh appears composed in the recording, we do not know how he conducted himself in the initial exchange with the female passenger. He may have acted aggressively or threateningly, in which case those calling for his ejection may have been motivated by concerns about their safety. Similarly, we have only his word to go on when asserting that it was an Arabic-language conversation that caused the disagreement.
What we do know is that several passengers, for whatever reason, appear visibly shaken in the recording. We know that Mr Saleh has made a career out of orchestrating and filming self-professed “social experiments”, such as this one from August, in which he appears to conclude that non-Muslims are less honest than Muslims. And we know that, since his experience on Delta, he has received worldwide publicity and substantially grown his online following.
Whatever transpired, there is little doubt that allegations of discrimination by Arab airline passengers are becoming more frequent. Gulliver reported on two such incidents in late 2015 and early 2016, concluding on both occasions that the Muslim passengers involved had been unfairly treated. Unfortunately, these were not the only ones. A Wikipedia page, Flying while Muslim, has a more extensive list. It paints a picture of an intolerant industry that stereotypes all Muslims as potential terrorists. That should alarm everyone who values living in a free and open society.
Mr Saleh has demonstrated a masterful ability to raise public awareness about this issue, whipping up frenzy on social media with his emotive and disturbing video. His allegation deserves a full investigation, which Delta has pledged to conduct. Beyond that, though, Gulliver is unwilling to pass judgement. A YouTube celebrity with a penchant for politicising religion and carrying out pranks may not be the best spokesperson for this cause.
