People get kicked off of planes for lots of reasons. Often alcohol is involved. Recently the refusal to wear a mask has been a point of conflict, but with months feeling like years now this reason seems ‘so July’.
Instead the most 2020 reason to get kicked off a plane is now wearing a mask that’s offensive.
A Miami activist was kicked off an American Airlines flight over the message on her face mask “F- 12” (with F being a four-letter epithet) which stands for ‘F’ the police.
While American refunded her ticket, the woman drove to Chicago after being kicked off – she says she was asked to ‘cover up’ the message, she complied, but the plane returned to the gate prior to takeoff and she was removed from the flight anyway.
“I think I got taken off the plane because I’m black,” said Johns. “My mask said ‘[F***] 12’ and my shirt said, ‘Black Lives Matter.’”
…”I am an abolitionist,” she said. “I believe that we need to defund and abolish the police.”
The airline says she “refused to follow crew member instructions to remove or cover a face mask with offensive language” and that while the passenger “initially complied, [she] later continued to display the inappropriate language.”
The phrase F-12 comes out of Atlanta, and in one telling is derived from the 60s TV show Adam-12, about two LA cops whose patrol car was 1-Adam-12.
If I were the passenger I’d have said I thought ‘F12’ was just the mask standard, all of this nomenclature like N95, KN95, and KF94 is pretty new. And if I were the crewmember I’d just emphasize that it’s the “F*” that’s at issue, and not the message (though goodness with everyone trapped inside a tube isn’t the ideal time to share ideas, which is why I wear noise cancelling headphones).
Face masks, conflict in a metal tube, and Black Lives Matter protests hardly generate news on their own anymore. In 2020 it takes all three together to garner widespread attention.
Early on during the pandemic I thought we’d see less ‘conflict in the skies’ with fewer passengers and shared purpose. however the experience has become more small-d democratic than ever before, with nearly all leisure travelers – the usual frequent flyers traveling for business just aren’t in the mix. Perhaps the refrain is, “we’re all Spirit Airlines passsengers now.”
By the way for those of you looking to get kicked off of planes F12 masks are for sale here.
With America the mess it is now, wait until people start wearing Biden and Trump masks.
It’s a pity there’s no instant scan for a brain when boarding. How did she get past the gate agents?
OF COURSE the scumbag tries to pull the race card….. typical.
So tired of these losers. Race is no excuse for bad behavior, this just diminishes the cause and the hard work honest and good people are doing and have done to improve race relations in this country.
My flight on Monday, AA told a family to mask up or they would not be flying with them ever! They finally did. No, it’s no fun to have a mask on for a 3 hours flight, but death is no fun either. Stay being smart people and stop this, I know better and it won’t infect me. Maybe you might infect someone else. Maybe someone like you infects your Mom or Dad or Grandparents. The Millennials and far righters need to think about everyone’s well being, not just their own.
BTW. . .Guy Phillips, the ” no mask/ I can’t breathe ” city council moron in Scottsdale AZ, came in dead last in the primary. . .maybe we make our statements at the ballot boxes if no one is listening or caring.
The issue wasn’t that the mask displayed F-12 or ACAB Rather it was “My mask said ‘F***-12’…”.
The issue was “F***’
It wasn’t a 1A issue either as it wasn’t public space/forum, even the airport terminal could be private or quasi-private depending on the city and oversight. Pretty sure people get trespassed from airports as well.
But most airlines have a dress code as part of Contract if carriage.
I think another passenger in recent memory was deplaned or forced to change clothes over the F*** word.
sunviking82: The Scottsdale election was NOT a primary, it was to replace city council members whose terms are expiring. And so we set the record straight…Guy Phillips did not come in “dead last” as you have stated above. There are 3 candidates that are trending lower, but the results are not final, yet. He is an idiot, I’m not debating that, but let’s not spread false news.
take home message. f*** 12!
Let’s call it for what is. She, like all the other radicals now attempting to take over our country, wore the mask and shirt just looking for a confrontation. Bravo on the American crew for not putting up with this offensive garb and message. Just more of the unending “race card” garbage!! It is way past time to not put up with it any longer and take similar actions when they pull these stunts!
I think a lot of improvements need to be made to police and they have to be more accountable and they need to do more to clean the dirt from the force but comments like defunding/abolishing the police is just stupid and causes sympathetic people to move away from your cause.
And I’m someone who has no concerns about people kneeling whenever they want but try to be reasonable in your arguments otherwise you end up with losers like Trump and his cronies winning elections.
This person was looking to create problems & she got them. Sorry not sorry she had to drive instead. It had nothing to do with being black
WHITE PRIVILEGE ALLOWS commentators like @Dora to claim that race has nothing to do with this, that race doesn’t excuse behavior… race has everything to do with this because what’s considered “good behavior” depends on what race you are. Whites are so blind to their own supremacy that they won’t agree with my claim here until they really think about it.
Saying F-12 is not offensive. As a advocate of the police and #BlueLivesMatter; I don’t agree with the political message conveyed, but that does not make the message itself offensive. If it had the actual profanity, sure, but F is just a letter of the alphabet.
As a country, we can’t hold BIPOC, the oppressed, to the same standards as white people, the oppressors. Behaviors that are inexcusable by white people are often excusable by BIPOC – this is why it’s ok to be proud of being Black, proud of being Asian, but not proud of being White!
@Jason Your are so blah blah blah. Your comments are constantly meant to be divisive that they mean nothing at all
It is not clear what got her kicked off. If American has a policy that was violated, that policy was ignored by the agents at Miami, the origination of her flight, by the crew on the flight to Charlotte, and by the agents in Charlotte where she connected assuming she was wearing the same mask the whole time. If there is no policy, or the FA just made an arbitrary decision about what is or isn’t acceptable, then the lady may have a point.
Most sane people, regardless of skin color or political persuasion, realize that it is not that we want no police. What we need is police who behave differently than kneeling on the neck of a man who has not even been charged or convicted until he is dead. And it is not just that specific abuse that is at issue.
We also do not need people who talk about radicals attempting to take over “our country” and other statement to the same effect. If the woman is a U.S. citizen, this is her country just as much as anyone’s. Being a radical liberal or a reactionary conservative matters not only agreeing to abide by the Constitution and all articles and amendments. Our revered Founding Fathers were radicals and even revolutionaries. The conservatives were Tories who supported the Crown.
Good riddance to the idiot! This kind of garbage needs to be treated for what they are. Shut your pie hole about what you think is good for this country. Go to work, pay your bills and vote at the polls, otherwise stfu we’re tired of hearing it
Amazing Larry, and Dora, you racists are the scumbag. According to Dora it wasn’t racist , how very white and bigoted of her. I wonder at what age she became so out spoken and dispecful to women of color though I bet it’s all black people she insults
So if I were to wear a t-shirt that said “WTF?”, I should not expect to fly? Or a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” shirt that also refers to “F”?
Last time I checked, “F” means “F”. “F” is not offensive. “12” is not offensive.
“Fuck” means “Fuck,” which is offensive to some. If her mask had said “Fuck the Police” instead of “F-12,” I’d agree with her politically, but would also understand American’s decision in denying her transport.
@allen Why is it always the race card?! Your opinion would mean more if it was based on something other than race. You’re presumptions are very biased
@Jason:
Her mask said “Fuck 12” not F 12. If it just said F 12, I would agree with you…
@Matthew, I apologize for reading carelessly. Thank you for the correction.
@Dora, complaining about “the race card” is not an argument, it just makes you look ignorant. Race is a principal feature of our daily lives, and it influences how we treat others as well as how we are treated. No one is truly non-racist; see unconscious bias.
@Jason Your comments once again….blah blah blah. Nothing tangible to take your comments seriously
@Dora is your imagination / inner life / intellect so truly poor that you cannot argue against @Jason because he doesn’t cite examples? I’m afraid he’s right, you are just lazy and a name-caller. I’m also guessing since you can’t “see” COVID-19 you don’t think it exists?
@Belle. Or you are the lazy name caller? Yep…bout right! Talk about stereo types- you fit right in. Any view outside your own… yep….. call it – wait…..ignorance…yep…YOU!
@IP is a new Trumpette over here. It will cheer while Trump tramples all over the constitution, as all it wants is a Nazi USA
@steve I already saw a Trumper at O’Hare wearing one yesterday
Just think for one minute..if all BLM protesters were working and not looting and rioting the country would be fine. But they are not….why? Because only in America do we have entire families born and raised in welfare.
A passenger looking for trouble got it. She should have stayed where she was most comfortable-out in the streets looting and pulling down historic monuments.
Now American Airlines are asking for another bailout