Two Muslim clerics were asked to leave a plane they had boarded in Memphis Tennessee that was traveling to Detroit, where they were scheduled to attend a conference on Islamaphobia. The only reason reported is the pilot refused to take off with them on board.
Airline officials spoke with the pilot for about an half an hour, but he still refused to fly with them on board. TSA had cleared the two previously.
One of the clerics, a Mr Rahman said, “It’s racism and bias because of our religion and appearance and because of misinformation about our religion. If they understood Islam, they wouldn’t do this.”
While the clerics cry racism and religious discrimination, I am reminded of a report a couple years ago where Muslim cabbies at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport refused to transport passengers who had guide dogs or pets or were carrying cases of wine from California, or liquor from duty-free shops.
The Muslim cabbies went so far as to ask passengers if they had any alcoholic products in their luggage before transporting them, resulting in some 5,400 passengers being turned away over a 5 year period. One cabbie explained the refusals as, “It is against our faith and the airport is discriminating against Muslim drivers.”
It would appear to me that they practice a double standard.