Is Southwest Airline racist?- Eleni Loving p1

Southwest Airlines employees forced a student from the University of California at Berkeley to get off of his plane before it departed from Los Angeles to head to Oakland. The student was a 26 year old Iraqi refugee, Khairuldeen Mahkzoomi, and he was removed from the flight and questioned by the FBI because another passenger had heard him speaking in Arabic on a phone call before the plane took off. When the other passenger misunderstood what he said, and thought he said the Arabic word for "martyr", they became afraid and reported him to the flight crew. He had actually said "inshallah" near the end of his phone call, and that is a common saying meaning "God willing". 

It is ironic that the Mahkzoomi had attended a dinner the night before at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, along with the UN secretary-general. He and his family had escaped Iraq as refugees, and since then he has made it through Community College  and transferred to UC Berkeley, where he participates in the Model United Nations program and writes articles for  The Huffington Post. He noticed that the other passenger was giving him strange looks after his phone call, and he became a little concerned about what was going on. 

Mahkzoomi said he was treated very badly by the Southwest employees, and he felt like he was treated like an animal when he accused the staff of Islamophobia. Once he was taken to another area in the terminal, security searched his bags, question him, and even "publicly search his genital area" while questioning him about whether he had a knife. The student went from Angry to more upset and afraid. He said it was humiliating to be treated that way in front of people, and he had lots of memories about his family's experiences in Iraq. He was questioned by the FBI at the airport, and they released him saying he was not a threat to anyone. However, Southwest Airlines still would not put him on a flight. They refunded his ticket and he had to fly home on another airline. He thought about suing Southwest, but says now that he only wants an apology. Southwest Airlines has made a statement that they only take passengers off of flights based on their procedures and collaborative decision-making. They also say but they are sorry if any customer has a "less than positive experience." 

This story represents a pretty serious violation of this man's personal freedom and protection from religious discrimination.

California College Student Removed From Southwest Airlines Flight After Speaking Arabic