As if we haven't already heard enough terrible Islamophobic incidents coming from the US, here's another one to add to the list.
A Muslim woman just gave an account of her being refused an unopened can of Diet Coke on a flight because it could be "used as a weapon." Meanwhile a man sitting right next to her was given an unopened can of beer, she said. When she pointed out the discrepancy, the flight attendant opened the man's can, saying, "so you don't use it as a weapon."
Tahera Ahmad, a Muslim chaplain at Chicago's Northwestern University, posted the account of the incident on her Facebook. What followed may have been worse — Ahmad recalled a man sitting across the aisle who yelled back, "You Muslim, you need to shut the f*** up."
While United Airlines said its workers tried to contact Ahmad to get clarification on the event, the company on Sunday issued a statement that was nowhere near an apology:
Ahmad wrote this last as a Facebook status:
"I am truly dissapointed at the latest statement by United Airlines. ... I simply did not expect United Airlines to dismiss the unwarranted and unfortunate rude behavior, discrimination and hateful words but rather acknowledge their accountability and role in the painful experience and share corrective measures within their training to prevent this from happening again regardless of their race, religion, gender, sex, or socioeconomic background."
But the Twitter support for the interfaith activist was nothing short of amazing. Here's #unitedfortahera:
