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American Airlines flight attendant accused of racist remark
Dudu Nobre, a Brazilian singer, has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines. He, his wife and producer are looking for $4 million in damages, claiming that flight attendants used racial slurs when talking to him and that they stabbed his producer with a sharp pen. So, the next time you're wondering what could make the long flight from Sao Paulo to New York worse, in a world where amenities and seat space are declining seemingly daily, Nobre is equipped to let you know.
One flight attendant is said to have called Nobre a monkey repeatedly in Portuguese during the flight – pushing it further by making monkey-like sounds. Apparently, these sounds are the closest thing to comment, as American Airlines is remaining tight-lipped.
Filed under: North America, South America, United States, Brazil, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 12 of 12)
Bozz Aug 6th 2009 5:46AM
Tyler, you should change your name to "Why Am I So Ignorant". You never contribute anything positive or relevant other than to post comments that reflect how miserable your life is. Of course you hide behind the first amendment when calling people "monkeys", but you support censorship on t.v. if it offends your "sensibilities". You're obviously young and maybe you grow out of it, but then again, maybe you'll just drive drunk and wrap your Gremlin around a telephone pole so your body can catch up with your dead brain.
GEStaff Aug 6th 2009 5:58AM
Enough of the fight. Let each one of us leave with our pride at least a little intact. This is not about black or white. We only have to learn how to forgive people and that will be the end of our problems.
Even though I come from Africa and live in Africa, I still do not understand it when my people blame white people for their suffering. Who did the white man buy the slaves from? Have y'all black folks out there asked yourselves that question before? Our own people sold us.We don't have to blame other people for our own mistakes. If we're poor, it's because we have chosen to be.
We have to forget about these things and focus better ways to make it in life.
If someone thinks you're a slave or a monkey and you know you're not one, why make a fuss out of that? Nevertheless, if you still believe you're one and someone calls you one, just thank em for reminding you period
JMCKY Aug 6th 2009 6:00AM
I'm not sure that this will be read by ANYONE. However, ever I alway's wonder if racism was more previlant before the internet was invented. Was racism on everyone's mind before? I never read so much about racism pre-internet days.
tagontrail Aug 6th 2009 6:42AM
I dont see why or how this could happen except just maybe the young man like a lot of others who sees an attendent as a waitress an took certain libertys with her. If so I dont blame her after all like a waitress she did not have a bouncer for protection. I have had foot ball players play this card .They get a little money in their pocket and they think you are there for them to play with . After all what was she suppose to do call the cops.,
MARTA Aug 6th 2009 6:21AM
I BELIEVE THE PASSENGER.
AMERICAN AIRLINES IS THE WORST AIRLINE OUT THERE. IN PUERTO RICO THEY ARE TACKY, THEIR FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ARE ALWAYS RUDE AND SNAPPY. AT LA GUARDIA THE SAME. ANYWHERE THERE IS AMERICAN AIRLINES, RUN THE OTHER WAY.
EASTERN WAS BETTER !!!! AND THEY WERE BAD.. SO HOPEFULLY THE SAME THAT HAPPENED THE EASTERN WILL HAPPEN TO AMERICAN AIRLINES AND THEIR OVERAGED, GRUMPY, SHITTY CREW !
NOT JUST ME, BUT MY I HAVE FRIENDS WITH SAME COMPLAINTS ABOUT THEM.
THE BOTTOM LINE, THEY SUCK !!
I GO ON ANY AIRLINE, EXCEPT AMERICAN,PLUS THEY ARE FOR THAT ONE WORLD THING.. A BUNCH OF SOCIALISTS !
Dana Aug 6th 2009 6:23AM
I have a brother n law, "J.R." who is black, and I remember many years ago walking with him to the store one day in Denver, when these two kids in a car drove by and shouted...Look!! Cracker and Blacker! Well J.R. turns to me and shrugs and says, Hey Dana I am not going to allow two dumb punks to spoil my day !! Then he said, Lets forget it!!! and enjoy this beautiful afternoon!!! I was still pissed off, and he pats me on the back and says cmon sis, calmn down! Then he took me to a local pub and bought me a ice cold beer. Now I do realize that this is quite a different situation!
We were not stuck on a plane. I just wanted to share a memory
with you folks.
Jen Aug 6th 2009 7:41AM
Stephanie
It's offensive and ignorant when people say to stop using the slavery card? Have you thought it offends whites to always hear it? My family history in America began in the late 1890's. They settled and started farming, in Minnesota and Wisconsin. My father, repeatedly told us kids of getting up with the sun, working until time to walk to school, walking home, having supper and then going back out to finish working the land. When I was a kid my parents bought a rundown Best Western hotel and restaurant. They pinched and scraped to renovate the property and made it a success. They got nothing off the backs or of the blood of any minority group. I left home shortly after high school and found my way, with no help from anyone other than family and good friends along the way. Would you understand I find it offensive and ignorant to be reminded of something my blood had no part of? I acknowledge it happened in this great countrys history and it was downright evil. I also acknowledge that the slaves, civil rights leaders(all races) and post slavery blacks, would rollover in their graves, if they knew they died with hopes of their descendants having better and some of their descendants turning their backs on open opportunities and yet still throw up the slavery card and cry about how bad life is. I know my ancestors worked their butts off when they got here and I appreciate them coming here with hopes of me having a better life. I am just not willing to use any excuse that I might disappoint them. The whole idea of whites have it made, is untrue. If I knew that being white meant all I had to do is sit around waiting for a great job, I certainly wouldn't have busted my ass all those years. Like you, I too have had unwarranted/unwanted racial slurs thrown at me. It frustrated me, but it never made me coward and withhold kindness to the next black American.
Tara Aug 6th 2009 9:50AM
I'll make it really simple for you folks-- persons of color will "drop the slavery issue" when white people stop using demeaning, disgusting, racial slurs... such as calling someone "a monkey" and making monkey sounds. If you can't understand why that type of behavior is so offensive, you really need to take a look in the mirror and do some soul searching. You also need to take a trip to the library and pick up the book "White Racism" and get a clue about the structural implications and long-lasting effects of a nearly 400-year-old system of white-on-black oppression. And stop focusing on what white people think of others-- what do white people think of themselves that they consistently try to excuse this behavior towards persons of color?
etirpsha Aug 6th 2009 12:13PM
Sharon wrote: "Sadly, most of the people posting on this forum know nothing about American history."
Sadly, Sharon, I am afraid that YOU are among those people who know nothing about slavery. First, you seem to forget that slavery was an ECONOMIC institution, and before the Civil War, race relations were far better than afterward. "Free Negroes" were highly successful in the pre-war South. Many were themselves owners of slaves, including William Johnson, "the barber of Natchez", Mississippi. Johnson, himself a former slave, owned over 400 slaves and was one of the most respected men in the State. (In 1915, "The Journal of Negro History" published an extensive list of all "Free Negroes" and how many slaves they owned. Look it up. One of my (black) university students did, became an authority and was almost disowned by her own family.)
I can show you Protestant churches where slaves were not only members, but held responsible positions within the clergy.
Take a look at "Time on the Cross". It was an economic study of the institution of slavery, looking only at the objective, unemotional data of the past. The conclusions were inescapable. Slaves in the South lived in far better conditions, had a better diet, a longer life expectancy and were healthier than whites living in the tenements and working in the factories and mills of New England. (The book was ignored and not even read by liberal historians and "professional blacks" making a living off of their tirades against whites.)
Of course, what too many want to ignore is the fact that Europeans were simply incapable of sending a few white men to Africa and capturing millions of blacks for slavery. No, it was the black Africans themselves who captured their fellow men and sold them into slavery. Slavery had always been a way of life in Africa and the Middle East (and today remains so sub rosa.)
The fact that slavery existed in America was totally unremarkable. It had existed since the dawn of civilization. What is remarkable about slavery in America is that it was ended so quickly after it became a concern.
Tragically, it was the strident abolitionists who were responsible for slavery lasting as long as it did, and indeed for the Civil War itself. By the late 18th century, Southern planters had come to recognize that it was not an economically viable institution, and sought to end it themselves. Many bills were introduced in Congress by Southern politicians seeking to abolish slavery, and to reimburse slave owners for their financial losses. Just as no one gives 10% to charity today, slave owners could not afford to simply give away their property. Abolitionists, however, opposed the reimbursement of slave owners, and demanded instead that they be punished unmercifully. Just think of the peace that could have been had.
acr Aug 6th 2009 12:52PM
Thank you for that. Perhaps order can overcoming chaos after all.
Sharon Aug 7th 2009 4:29PM
Why am I not surprised? A long, rambling letter from a slaver extolling the virtues of slavery! "Slaves in the South lived in far better conditions, had a better diet, a longer life expectancy and were healthier than whites living in the tenements and working in the factories and mills of New England." Says who? Some white guy who never spent a moment shackled, whipped, lynched or burned alive? Indeed, that's exactly the kind of fantasy whites had to tell themselves in order to justify the un-christian institution of slavery. No, slavery is not new to mankind. So what? That's like a murderer going before a judge and pointing out that there are lots of other murderers in the world besides himself. So What? But best of all was "it was the strident abolitionists who were responsible for slavery lasting as long as it did." Do you really think you're making any sense? You offer nothing but a mouth full of excuses and the usual white man's litany of smoke screens and lies. If you want to know what it was like to be a slave, you're going to have to ask a slave, not the white guy who enslaved him. And how many slaves did you interview and quote? Have a nice day.
Jay Aug 8th 2009 4:26AM
I really can't judge this since I wasn't there but I hate how people act like everything is fine and dandy in this country race wise. I still experience racism I'm a black teen that grew up in the suburbs of South FL where I'm still living. I've been called all kinds of stuff also in Spanish which I do understand a bit. I barely have any black friends and I'm nothing close to any stereotypes but I still find myself in race situations also people say things "jokingly" to me which I don't find funny at all. It's crazy how people are ignorant to other people and cultures I've been asked the stupidest questions about my race from friends and their parents.People still hold their prejudices but now they keep it more to themselves and release it behind closed doors. (or safely behind a computer screen)
stunned Sep 13th 2009 12:55PM
THIS IS NOT A COMMENT OF THIS STORY..BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO START. THIS WAS SENT TO AA.COM YESTERDAY...WILL THEY DO ANYTHING? I AM NOT HOLDING MY BREATH...WHICH IS WHY I AM POSTING HERE AND EVERYWHERE I CAN. I WANT NOTHING...EXCEPT FOR THIS FLIGHT ATTENDANT TO BE TAKEN OUT OF A POSITION SHE DOES NOT BELONG IN. DELETED HER NAME FOR NOW
I was on flight 1602 from San Francisco to Los Angeles today, September 12, 2009. And the events on this flight have left me speechless to say the least. What comes more to mind is assaulted and violated. All due to your Purser ****
My husband and 2 boys were in First Class, with myself, my 6 year old daughter and our nanny in 7D E & F. My daughter is autistic. At the beginning of the flight, Ms. **** came to our seat, pushed my nanny back (she was leaning over talking to me in the window with her in the aisle) and said something about picking up 2 WIFI direction cards off the floor. She huffed at my daughter, clucked her tongue, rolled her eyes and shook her head, aggressively placing the cards in the pocket. Please note they were at my daughters feet, not in the aisle. Towards the end of the flight, she came by again and repeated the process, though even more exaggerated than before. My daughter has very little language, though she senses EVERYTHING. And she sensed the pure anger and hate from this person. I got up and approached Ms **** in First Class, where I told her it was very unnecessary to be so volatile, and that my daughter is a special needs child. I was neither combative nor threatening. She immediately became those things...VERY angry, pointing her finger an inch from my nose, screaming at me with her only response being that was that no one told her she (my daughter) is special needs.
She SHOVED AND PUSHED me telling me to get back to my seat, and that she was having me written up..and something about having me detained. Let me repeat myself: when I approached her, I was neither combative nor threatening. And if you think this through..her initial disgust and anger that she showed us was from TWO WIFI DIRECTION CARDS AT OUR FEET IN FRONT OF US. Hardly something that should evoke such a harsh reaction. As I turned to go back to my seat, my husband and 13 year old (who were in aisle seats in First) said Ms. **** shook her fist at me and made a gesture as if hitting me with it (her fist). And we are supposed to trust this person with our safety? How would she react in a REAL confrontation? A REAL threat? An emergency? As we were deplaning, I asked for her full name. She told me to get it from the gate agent. I then saw her name plate and read it aloud. She really lost it this time. She yelled to me, "And don't tell me I don't know about special needs kids. My grandchild has Cerebral Palsey!" ????????? I in no way was accusatory of any ignorance to special needs situations...so that was out of nowhere. Which again screams to me: angry and completely irrational.
I am NOT looking for a free ANYTHING. I would have pressed charges for assault if my children were not with me (they had seen MORE than I care them ever to have to see). The gate personel said they would call a supervisor, then we were told no one was answering and were shooed off to another gate where there was supposedly a supervisor. She was not at all in charge of in flight crew, and could not help me past giving me AA's website.
Being part of a flight crew DOES NOT give you the right to physically assault a passenger at your will...and MENTALLY assaulting a 6 year old. As I type this, my daughter is SCREAMING because of the trauma she has endured today. Very out of whack. Being autistic, she FEELS everything 100 fold.
This person does not belong in the air with the responsibility of hundreds of lives in her hands.