#boycottdelta

Delta Air Lines posted a link to their statement on Twitter:

Delta on Twitter: "Updated statement: Customers removed for disruptive behavior | Delta News Hub: https://t.co/AfM3hjaawz” (http://news.delta.com/updated-statement-customers-removed-disruptive-behavior)

Both white nationalists and Islamist apologists quickly descended on the Tweet to engage in a civil Tweet war. Almost all of the responses are severely lacking in nuance.

It's not that complicated, really. There are several related points here:

1. Yes, conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) bias against Arabic speakers and Arab-appearing people exists. Airline passengers may be viewed with greater suspicion if they are of Arab descent or are speaking Arabic. This is the case even for completely innocent passengers who are not threats to the safety of the aircraft.

2. Unfortunately, this suspicion is justified by the disproportionate number of terrorist acts committed by Muslims. The terrorists are not necessarily Arab-appearing, though they are Muslims.

3. However, the flying public knows fully well that with the security measures taken by airlines and airports, it's very unlikely there is a terrorist on board. Realistically, passengers acting in a disruptive manner are not threats to the safety of the aircraft. They may be at most an annoyance or disruption, as in this case.

4. In this case, it's likely that Adam Saleh and his friend were removed from the aircraft not because of bias against Arab-appearing and/or Arabic-speaking passengers -- which does exist -- but because they were being disruptive and possibly setting up a prank. I say this based on other passengers' accounts and Saleh's history of setting up pranks onboard aircraft.

I believe Saleh and his friend were no threat to the safety of the aircraft, only that they were being disruptive. Saleh and his friend are not terrorists!

5. On Twitter, unfortunately, the Right misses that conscious and unconscious bias against Arabic speakers and Arab-appearing people exists and is a legitimate problem, while the Left misses that some of the conscious bias against Arabic speakers and Arab-appearing people is because of the disproportionate number of terrorist acts committed by Muslims.