A Black woman has stated that she was tossed from her first class fight after a white passenger accused her of racism. The woman, only identified as Erica, shared what happened in a series of several TikTok videos.
The clips, which were posted on December 29, showed that Erica and her partner boarded a flight from Chicago to Austin, Texas. The flight was already delayed for three hours, but when the pair sat down in first class is when the incident began.
“When I got on the flight, I put my backpack under my front seat, and the flight attendant asked me to move my backpack,” Erica stated. “I said, ‘That’s fine. I can put it above me if there’s any more space up there.”
Erica said she attempted to fix the bags in the overhead compartment. That’s when the the white man sitting allegedly screamed to her: “Do not touch my bag. Do not touch my stuff.’
“I said, ‘Okay. I’m sorry. My bad. I could put my bag somewhere else, even though this is right above my seat,’” she continued.
The flight attendant offered to help Erica place her bag in a different compartment, but she was worried about the valuable items inside of it.
Erica said that after the flight attendant walked away, the same man screamed, “I’m threatened. I feel threatened.”
“He yelled at the people that worked on plane and told them that he felt threatened and that he felt uncomfortable because I did not want my bag to be right above him,” Erica said.
The man also allegedly said that it was a “race thing,” despite Erica never speaking to him. Shortly after his comment, Erica said her and her partner were escorted off the plane.
The only explanation the airline allegedly had gave the couple was that “it’s a race thing.” Erica also managed to record the man who allegedly made the comments, but he put his hand up to block her from recording him.
This isn’t the first time an alarming racist incident has happened at an airport. In fact, The Root has reported extensively about their frequent occurrences last year.