8.24.2006

Interesting...

The real story starts on the 5th paragraph. A man, at JFK airport was ask to cover up his shirt that said, "We will not be silent".

Because it was written in Arabic.

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2006/08/back-from-mideast.html

I'm appauled.


"you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank". I said "but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says "we will not be silent". I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan, you can google them or email them at wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc."

3 comments:

Jo said...

Wow, just wow. I can't believe what this world is coming to sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Here is what I wrote jetBlue on their complaint form -
-------------

I am sorry to say that I read the article located here - http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2006/08/back-from-mideast.html
And realize that jetBlue will never get one dollar from me, even if they were the last airline on Earth.
What your company has done is wrong in every aspect. Not only do you owe this man a huge apology, but you owe him for taking away something which was never YOUR RIGHT to steal - his Constitutional rights. Your company took those away without a second thought and never once tried to prove or provide the proof necessary showing you in the right. I state again you were wrong.
I am American and an Italian. My grandparents were immigrants to this country back in the 30's. And you are telling me that if I wore a shirt that says "we will not be silent" in Italian you will deny me passage with out just cause, because YOU can't read my shirt? Your employee's need to learn a thing or two about courtesy and your company needs to stop in becoming an oppressive and communistic opportunist, or at least stop allowing such things to happen. Your employee's reflect your company in every way - if this is allowed then your company then endorses this behavior.
I say again - you will never get one penny from me or anyone close to me. I will help spread the word on such companies like yourself who deal in business this way.
If you have a reply and would like to defend your position, I will entertain it. But do not just go through and make excuses for such horrible and disrespectful ways to treat people.

Bryce said...

Joey was kind enough to forward me the responce. Very interesting. Though again, its from the Customer Commitment Director of JetBlue:

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to address the situation reported on DemocracyNow.org and other sites. currently, we are working with the TSA to understand the situation. We are gathering information and our initial findings tell us that the request to have him remove his T-shirt was not made by a JetBlue Crewmember. We are confident that this investigation will help us all better understand the events of that day.

JetBlue has no policy regarding messages on apparel. We are a family-friendly airline. Anything offensive or vulgar will be discussed with the individual in a sensitive and respectful manner.

Our fundamental responsibility as an airline is to provide safe and secure travel for all of our customers. This requires us to be sensitive to the concerns of all of our customers, while also upholding the rights of the individual. We value diversity, among our customers as well as our crewmembers. We take our responsibility seriously, and should there be an opportunity to improve our effectiveness, we will take the appropriate action.

We appreciate your interest in this matter as well as your understanding of all our customers' needs. We remain available should you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Jason Ward
Director Customer Commitment
JetBlue Airways