Student Escorted off a Plane for Speaking Arabic

Today Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, an Iraqi student in California, claims that he was removed off of a Southwest Airlines flight because he was speaking in Arabic. This student says he was talking with his uncle on the phone before the flight took off about a speech by the United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-Moon that he was going to attend.

He noticed that the woman on the plane started staring at him once he used the phrase “inshallah”, which means “god willing”, while conversing over the phone with his uncle. Shortly after, a Southwest Airlines employee escorted him off the plane.

Makhzoomi told the New York Times that he was very excited about being able to go to the event, which is why he called his uncle in the first place.

It is unfortunate that these generalizations and negative perceptions against all associated with Arabic and the Middle East has become somewhat commonplace in the United States. It is also ironic that Makhzoomi was speaking in Arabic about how excited he was to go to a United Nations speech, which ultimately led to him being removed from the flight. In the preamble of the Unite Nation’s Charter, it is stated that one of the goals is to “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”. It looks like as a general society, the United States needs to evaluate its own prejudices and remember to practice what we preach as an active member of the UN.

Naomi Sand says:

April 18, 2016 at 2:06 pm

I hate hearing stories like this one. It makes me think about after the Boston Marathon bombings, there was a state-wide call to “report any and all suspicious behavior” to help prevent any further attacks. But what qualifies as suspicious? Our country has devolved into a place that punishes those that deviate even slightly from the “American” norm, something that doesn’t even really exist. The idea that speaking Arabic is inherently suspicious is ridiculous, and yet I know quite a few people would say that hearing that on an airplane would make them uncomfortable. These notions of being suspicious and uncomfortable are, in a way, defense mechanisms to avoid facing “the other,” or anything that appears to be different from you. It makes me so sad to hear about things like this happening, and I worry what will continue to happen if we keep up with our current discourse of hatred and intolerance.

Julia Rivara says:

April 22, 2016 at 11:52 am

Natalie, I missed this in the news but it sickens me to hear things like this. The discrimination, especially during travel, demonstrates how our country is far from equality. I actually saw this a lot while abroad in Europe and traveling in all the different airports, especially after the attacks in Paris. I was in Heathrow and there was a muslim couple in front of me who were stopped and required to answer questions, subject to bag search, and had to throw out many of their snacks (of which I had similarly in my bag). Something similar happened with a US-Muslim exchange student when leaving Seville. He had to deal with increased questioning by not only security, but at the gate as well. And once again, the idea of it happening in the US is bothersome and makes me angry to be honest that our society allows for this.

Kim says:

April 30, 2016 at 1:43 am

I agree with everyone that there is certainly a stigma against Arabic or anything that comes from the Middle East. As an Arabic Studies major, it does make me mad that there is such a visceral reaction to ostracize Muslims and Arabs. What makes it even worse is that the generalizations group men and women into categories that they do not necessarily identify with and yet they get treated the same in the end: humiliated and singled out.

I believe that dialogues need occur and not confrontations. We must, if not as a country then as a generation truly take it upon ourselves to change how we see these identifications and the groupings that we inherit. We have to act when there is action to be taken.