(DETROIT, MI) — A Muslim woman from Dearborn says Delta Airlines mishandled a harassment case on a flight from Florida to Detroit.
Darlene Hider, 32, said she was with her four kids and husband when another woman yelled, “This is America!” and insulted her because of her Islamic faith.
Instead of asking the woman to stop, Delta flight attendants told Hider to “get your kids and change seats.” She was later moved to the rear of the plane.
“I felt as if I wanted to defend myself but I couldn’t because of the Islamophobia going on,” Hider told BuzzFeed News. “It’s enough that I wear a scarf. We have to prove ourselves every day to people and it gets tiring. I’m not a terrorist. I’m American.”
According to Hider, the flight attendant said: “You are at my wit’s end. You better be quiet before I kick you off this plane!”
Hider’s brother, Abed Ayoub, is the legal and policy director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
“Everyday Muslims and Arabs are discriminated against in America,” Ayoub posted on Twitter. “They are sisters, wives, mothers and don’t deserve this.”
“As a civil rights attorney I work with victims of discrimination all the time. Corporations like Delta need to respond better,” he said.
Brian Kruse, a spokesman for Delta Airlines, say they’re reviewing the situation.
“Delta does not condone discrimination of any kind,” he told the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday.
The president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Samer Khalaf, is now calling on Delta to better train their flight attendants.
“We encourage Delta to take immediate steps to rectify this matter and ensure that their agents are better equipped to address instances of harassment,” he said.
The ADC released a video that they say shows part of the incident. A flight attendant is heard saying: “You want to get off the plane? I’m fixing the problem. If you want, we will take you out.”
WATCH video footage of Hider moving seats: