Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Don Cheadle encounters racist flight attendant

Don Cheadle maybe be an Oscar-nominated actor but that did not stop him from experiencing a bit of racism on a plane ride to LA one day.
He recalls, “We get up to the ticket counter and we’re trying to get our seats together. As we walk up to the counter there’s a crowd and we hear, ‘Everybody just back off! Just back off!’ So I walk up to her (airline worker) and say, ‘Don’t you mean back up?’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Back up and back off!”




Cheadle decided to try a different approach and ask a stewardess when the couple boarded the aircraft – but he was shocked to find she was even ruder.



He explains, “I go up to a flight attendant on the plane and say, ‘Ma’am, we’re seated in different seats…’ and she says, ‘Well I can’t change seats on the plane.’ I said, ‘No, I’m aware of that,’ and she goes, ‘What you (sic) want me to do about it?’ (I said) ‘Nothing, that’s fine.’



“So later I go up to her (again) and ask her what was the problem. She went, ‘Well, what did you want me to do about it?’ So I said, ‘I just wanted you to attend, help me.’ So I turned around (to sit down) and she goes, ‘Don’t you turn your face to me. I will get you thrown off the plane.’ The woman had to be on some drug, I imagine! So I used a colourful expression to her and kept moving to my seat…”



The flight attendant finally came to her senses and apologized to Cheadle: “Right before the end (of the flight) she puts two bottles of Courvoisier (cognac) between our seats. I said, ‘What is that? Why are you giving it to me?’



“She said, ‘I’m sorry, this is my way of apologising. I was told there was a black guy with a hat on sneaking into first class and I thought that was you.’ So that’s just racism? That’s cool!”



Cheadle said the airline crew member also mistook him for comedian Tim Meadows.

This is sad, but not rare in today's America.  America thinks it has come far in racism, but we forget racism can come in all types of forms, including racial stereotyping and profiling.  We still have a long way to go with racial tolerance here in America and getting over the stereotypes of cultures that hold us back. 

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