NAACP warns African Americans against travel on American Airlines
October 26, 2017 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Comments Off
The NAACP is warning African Americans that if they fly on American Airlines they could be subject to discrimination or even unsafe conditions.
American’s chief executive said Wednesday that he was disappointed by the announcement and that American wants to discuss the matter with the civil rights group.
The NAACP said that for several months it has watched a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African American passengers. Among them were separate cases in which an NAACP official and another civil rights activist were kicked off flights.
The NAACP said that and other recent incidents involving African Americans “suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines.”
American Airlines issued a statement saying that it has a diverse group of employees and serves customers of all backgrounds.
In a memo to employees, CEO Doug Parker said American endorses the NAACP’s mission statement against racial discrimination.
“We do not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” Parker wrote. “We have reached out to the NAACP and are eager to meet with them to listen to their issues and concerns.”
The NAACP highlighted four recent incidents in which African American passengers said they were treated in a discriminatory way.
One involved the head of the North Carolina NAACP, the Rev. William Barber, who sued American after being removed from a flight last year. Barber said police were called and removed him from the plane after he asked a flight attendant to tell a white passenger behind him to quiet down.
Barber accused the other passenger of making a comment about having a problem with “those people.”
An incident last week involved Tamika Mallory, an organizer of the Women’s March on Washington in January. Mallory had changed her seat at an airport kiosk, only to be told at the gate that the seat had been assigned to another customer.
Mallory said she was treated disrespectfully by the gate agent — another African American woman — and was outraged when a white male pilot asked if she could control herself while on the flight.
After being told she was being kicked off the plane, Mallory called the pilot a racist in a profanity-laced exchange. She took a later flight home to New York on American, then held a news conference two days later and threatened to take legal action against the airline.
American, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is the world’s largest airline. The NAACP describes itself as the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization.
Share and Enjoy
Honolulu’s ‘Distracted Walking’ Law Takes Effect, Targeting Phone Users
October 26, 2017 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Comments Off
Honolulu police officers direct traffic at an intersection. Honolulu is the first major U.S. city to ban texting while walking in a crosswalk.
Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
Honolulu police officers direct traffic at an intersection. Honolulu is the first major U.S. city to ban texting while walking in a crosswalk.
Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
Police in Honolulu on Wednesday will begin writing tickets for people who get distracted by their cellphones while walking in a crosswalk. Honolulu is the first major city in the country to pass such a law, citing a high rate of pedestrians being hit in crosswalks.
“Starting today, texting while walking in a crosswalk can get you a ticket,” Hawaii Public Radio’s Bill Dorman reports for our Newscast unit. “In fact, a downward glance at a screen of any kind will cost you — a phone, a tablet, a video game.”
Under the new law, the only legal reason for a pedestrian to use a cellphone while crossing a street or highway would be to call 911 to report an emergency.
Minimum fines for breaking the new law start at $15; for repeat offenders, the penalty ranges from $75 to $99. Higher rates — up to $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second, and $500 for a third — had been considered earlier this year.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed Bill 6, also known as the Distracted Walking Law, in July. At the time, he said that Honolulu held “the unfortunate distinction of being a major city with more pedestrians being hit in crosswalks, particularly our seniors, than almost any other city in the county,” as NPR’s Miles Parks reported.
According to HPD, more than 10,000 citations were issued last year for mobile electronic device violations.
As the law took effect, the city of Honolulu cited a National Safety Council warning that when pedestrians use a cellphone, “this distraction can cause them to trip, cross roads unsafely or walk into motionless objects such as street signs, doors or walls.”
After thousands of distracted walking injuries were reported, the NSC says, it added a new category to track the trend in its annual statistical report, Injury Facts.
In the 90 days since the bill was signed, Honolulu police have been working to remind people of the risks of using an electronic device while walking across a street — risks that, as of Wednesday, also include a fine.