Called it! American Airlines just released a statement explaining why Imani Cezanne was removed from an airplane before takeoff with the assistance of the police. This is a follow-up on the original article published a few days ago about her story that she published as a tweet-rant on Twitter.

A spokesman for American Airlines said they were now working with Cezanne to resolve the issue.

He said: ‘An unruly passenger was removed from American Eagle Flight 5192, operated by PSA Airlines, from Charlotte to Atlanta due to failure to comply with crew member instructions.

‘The passenger refused to exit aircraft when asked, so local law enforcement was called. We will work with the customer to resolve the issue. American Airlines values diversity and we do not discriminate for any reason.’

It’s not much but it already confirms part of my probable reconstruction of events.

Flight attendant walked over, asked her to calm down but she didn’t.

Manager was called over, asked her to calm down but she didn’t.

Manager asked her to leave the plane of her own volition but she refused.

Police officers escorted her out of the airport because she could have been a danger to the safety of other passengers during the flight.

Here is a quick recap to compare that statement to her tweets:

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She didn’t mention that she refused to leave when asked to and that’s what led the manager to request police assistance.

I have never worked for an airline but as I mentioned in the previous article, I fly on average 100 times a year for a total distance sometimes over 300,000 miles. I’m not an insider expert but I’ve seen these exact same procedures applied before more than once. I was even on a flight that had to make an emergency landing because a drunk passenger was disturbing everybody else to such a level that the pilot saw a threat to the safety of the aircraft and all on-board, deeming it necessary to divert the flight to an alternate airport as soon as possible.

I don’t need to work for an airline to have witnessed such events and noticed how they apply safety procedures and why they are in place like that. I’ve also heard stories from crew members, as I often tend to go chat up with them during long trans-oceanic flights. Sometimes it can even lead to a better service by simply being nice to them.

People tend to respond the same way that they are being approached. Which leads me to a tweet that I forgot to put in the previous article:

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The flight attendant asked her: “Are you going to be a problem?” and she responded with: “Are you going to be a problem? Why would you ask me that?”.

Maybe the FA had a bad day and snapped at her randomly or singled her out because of her shirt or singled her out because she was loud and badmouthing the crew denouncing what she saw as an injustice when the foreign couple was asked to move to another seat because their English was not proficient enough to sit in the emergency row in case of emergency.

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No matter how it started, it doesn’t change the fact that the crew is in a position of authority. They are not salespeople in a store where their ultimate goal is to please the customers. Their first duty, before serving drinks and snacks, is the safety of every soul on board. If they see a potential problem or threat, it is their responsibility to address it as soon as possible, preferably before takeoff whenever possible.

Could they possibly abuse their authority? Yes, of course but like everybody else, they want to make their job as easy as possible. They don’t create problems where there aren’t any. They are not simple sky waitresses, they are highly trained to maximize the survival of everybody on board in case of disaster. I’ve met some that speak 3 or more languages. I would say they have one of the least appreciated jobs out there.

Helping to avoid unnecessary delays to respect their schedule is also one of their responsibilities.

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The incident caused approximately 10-15 minutes of delay. Not too much of an impact but still an unnecessary delay that could have been avoided.

It doesn’t really shed any more light on the exact events that happened inside the plane though. Somebody in the comments mentioned without providing a link that a video surfaced that was taken by the passenger seated directly behind her and the anger of the other passengers over her treatment might be a clue as to what happened.

Well, I found the video in question:

http://nypost.com/2015/10/13/passengers-boo-as-woman-is-kicked-off-american-airlines-flight/

The video is exactly as described, except the article was written in October 2015. I don’t know if the mention of this video was a deliberate attempt at disinformation or rather just a hasty jump to conclusion in the middle of a “listen and believe” frenzy to find supporting evidence. #TimeTravelWhileBlack

Another comment on the previous article said “You must know her really well. Or are you saying that all black people think the same?”.

Here is my reply:

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This is an opinion piece. In all my articles, I give my opinion on current events. Everybody has a right to not agree with my opinion. For comparison, here is the title of an article from an online tabloid:

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If your opinion matches the title of that article, all of a sudden it’s not biased anymore but true reporting, amirite?

All this to say I did a lot of research, more than most people would assume. Let’s have a look at the research that gave me hints on Ms. Cezanne’s character and state of mind.

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This tells me she doesn’t like airports because she has to wait in line instead of being served instantly. That would be a sign that she feels special or entitled, as if the rules shouldn’t apply to her. This also shows that she likes to be in control, waiting in line is out of her control and takes the time that it takes before reaching the check-in counter. Waiting in line is a fact of life, pouting doesn’t make it go faster and ruins your mood for the day. This would lead me to think that she tried to take control of the situation on the plane even when she wasn’t in a position of authority then started pouting when it didn’t go her way and so refused to leave the plane.

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This tells me that she already felt out of place at airports in 2013, even before the incident on that flight, and she explains it with the color of her skin. What if she was in the same mindset during that flight? Thinking that airports and crew members are out to get her because she’s black, which reflects on her opinion that the recent incident was racially motivated.

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This tells me she likes chocolate or candy and that she potentially has some self-control issues if she can’t avoid buying something each time she sees that store. Is this relevant? Maybe, maybe not but this is the kind of detail that I note and try to pay attention to.

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This tells me that her racial identity is really important to her, to the point of performing actions because of it or explaining her actions with it. Could that be projected on other people? Could she assume that everybody thinks and behaves the same way? That if a white person is rude to her it has to be motivated by their racial identity as a white person?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thWBemcnHd8&w=560&h=315]

I also went through her poetry slam videos, not all of them but enough to see what it was and the topics that she uses as inspiration. This one was recorded at the Women of the World Poetry Slam Finals on March 12 2016 in Brooklyn, NY. It happens to be about how she doesn’t like the TSA because they searched her and had to inspect her hair piece. “I’m never more aware of my blackness then when I’m in an airport”. Same sentiment she expressed in 2013 as 2 weeks before the incident. Is it far-fetched to assume this is her usual mindset at an airport? This also tells me that she has trouble understanding the meaning behind security procedures, considers them frivolous, useless and a personal insult. The TSA has to look at everything that can be used to hide a weapon. Remember 9/11? Remember the recent hijacked plane in Egypt? Security precautions are annoying, I agree, but they’re in place for the greater good of everybody.

Let’s try to see her attitude towards white people in general.

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OK.

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I won’t make a black Jesus joke here but I immediately thought about JJ’s painting in Good Times or the more recent TV series. Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish, from present day Israel, so it all breaks down to if you want to consider them white or not. Hard to tell the meaning of that tweet so I’ll assume she meant that she doesn’t consider Jewish people white and think nothing more of it.

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Technically, she’s saying she wants to assault white women but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that it’s a joke. Not everything should be taken at face-value.

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That’s an odd comment that is hard to interpret. Without giving it a meaning, it shows a great divide between her and white people. That would be a generalization also.

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OK, getting somewhere, the color white is racist. It can’t be just a color, it has to represent the color of skin.

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Again, a generalization about white people but also implying white privilege, something she mentioned in the tweets of the incident.

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I’m pretty sure she’s not a Trump supporter and won’t vote for him.

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That could point out that she likes to show up to white people and likes to feel superior to them.

There are so many of those comments, white people this, white people that, generalizing white people. Strange, the comments of the previous article have accused me of generalizing black people when I was talking only about her personal behavior. Let’s concentrate on the interesting ones from now on.

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This tells me that she sees every situation in life like a racial struggle. This could apply to what happened on the plane. She stood up for that foreign couple to fight a perceived injustice caused by racism against them.

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This tells me that she doesn’t like when black people sound white, whatever that means, as if blackness is something that can be measured and past a certain point, could almost be considered a race traitor.

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Really? This tells me it doesn’t take a lot for her to decide that somebody is racist. Again, that could apply to the situation on the plane. The flight attendant and manager that disagreed with her are obviously racist.

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Interesting. She didn’t say it herself but she commented on a tweet that included a racial slur.

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Again, a generalization of white people. What if she met some white people that were racist and assumes all the white people, including the flight attendant, are racist?

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Again, life is a constant racial struggle, everything is about race. I’m not looking to make a pun here but everything is black and white for her, as if they were living in completely separate worlds and didn’t face the same challenges and difficulties. It also tells me that she likes to have her way.

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All white men are identical and all think the same way. I think a pattern of racial generalization has been established by now.

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Well, looks like I’m not the only one that did research on her character.

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This tells me she sees white people as self-important. The same reaction she probably had with the flight attendant, who was legitimately in a position of authority on the aircraft.

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This would be a prejudice against white people, that all shooters are white.

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Again, life is a racial struggle. White people never have anything of importance to say, even when they sympathize with her cause.

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Statistics time. You know, the racist kind with numbers that disprove a black person.

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There is a larger number of white people getting food stamps so she was right on that point but when accounting for population distribution according to races, there is a greater ratio of black people getting food stamps than white people.

You should math more.

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About a month before the incident on the plane. Did she also want the flight attendant to mind her own damn business?

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On the day of the incident, commenting about a lawsuit as white shit. I honestly agree the lawsuit is frivolous but why make it about race? If it was a black person suing for the same reasons, would it be some black shit or would she be supporting her instead? Could she have got the idea of a lawsuit to make money from this frivolous lawsuit?

After all those tweets, let’s watch some poetry slam again.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sDKiQA-7Qg&w=560&h=315]

“I’m mad because I’m paying attention, because country think they’re slick”…“They won’t let me be me, they’ll tell me to lower my voice”…“I’m mad because racism, sexism, patriarchy, misogyny, colorism happen at the same damn time”. From Da Poetry Lounge. I know this is a poem but the message is about explaining why she’s an angry black woman. I’ll reuse her own term here. Could she have been an angry black woman on the plane when she perceived some potential injustice?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRNuQZhVMKI&w=560&h=315]

“The police fear for their life without reason”…”I know for a fact that they might kill my brother today”. From National Poetry Slam 2015. I’m not an expert in poetry slam but that sounds awfully like what she wrote in her tweets.

Were her tweets a faithful retelling of the story or some poetry slam in disguise?

This is the research that I did on her personality or at least, the image that she projects publicly.

For the next part, I interviewed a black woman to get her opinion on the matter.

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I have to disclose that I have the utmost respect for her personally and we follow each other on Twitter. She is a black woman and a Trump supporter (they do exist).

FP: You want to be interviewed for my next article? I need a token black person.

LM: Ooooh sure.

FP: You’re black, right?

LM: Yes I am!

FP: You’re a woman too?

LM: Yes, double the oppression.

FP: Have you heard about #FlyingWhileBlack?

LM: yes where that black girl was acting dumb on the plane then acting like everyone else is racist for not putting up with her bs.

FP: How come you don’t believe her even if you’re a black woman?

LM: I fly American airline whenever I fly and I’ve never had a problem. No one has said anything mean to me or treated me badly because of the color of my skin and same goes for many other poc I’ve seen on the plane. Also why tell Twitter first? What can Twitter do for you besides create hashtags and give you retweets? It just seems like she wants attention plus her shirt had a bunch of dead black people listed on it. It’s like she went on the plane to start a problem and cry racism later

FP: So what do you think happened on the plane?

LM: well she said the flight attendant was talking to someone else telling them they’d have to move their seat since they didn’t speak English and the girl felt the need to place herself into a conversation that had nothing to do with her. she claims she was calm and respectful but I don’t know since there’s no video but why poke your nose in others business? I think she was probably annoying the flight attendant with that situation and they thought she’d continue to be a problem during the flight

FP: So why do you think she got kicked out? Just for being annoying?

LM: I don’t know honestly I feel like a lot of the story is being left out by her mostly to seem like a victim. She was probably annoying and giving the attendant an attitude which could make her uncomfortable and feel unsafe. But I definitely don’t think she was kicked off simply for being black.

FP: Would you have felt safe on that plane as a passenger knowing she could open the emergency door anytime she wanted?

LM: Helllll no!

FP: Why?

LM: Whenever people act nosey and angry or just weird like that it makes me uncomfortable you know, like is something wrong with you? do I need to keep my eyes on you just in case.

FP: So why do you think they had to call the cops and banned her from the airline?

LM: I didn’t even know she was banned lmao if all that happened she was probably pretty aggressive there’s no way that just happens because of your skin color.

FP: If you have doubts about her story, why do you think lots of people believe her then?

LM: it’s the same people that believe everything they’re told by other progressives. notice the way they believe every rape accusation that comes out? even when it’s proven to be false? I think it’s because these people love to be victims, they like the attention that comes with it and they know people will coddle them like they’re babies. they don’t have to take responsibility for anything if they’re victims to everything but I also think some people are just naïve. they don’t think anyone would lie about stuff like this so they don’t look at the bigger picture they just immediately feel bad for the person and try to save them

FP: Do you think there is a link between BLM and what happened to her?

LM: yep just that shirt alone was dumb. It just seems so planned that she’s wearing a BLM shirt when she’s being racially attacked also they act the same way with police officers claiming to be calm and respectful but only the officer was the aggressor.

FP: what do you think racial hoaxes like that accomplish? also what are the consequences when proven to be false?

LM: I think it really divides people. the people that believe (progressives) usually end up hating white people/conservatives more because even with evidence they’ll still believe the “victim” and with people that don’t believe they end up hating progressives more some may even hate black people too because they make everything about race and you never know when they’ll accuse you of the same stuff. I feel like you never really even see consequences when these things are proven false the story usually just faded away and it’s talked about less. I think there should be serious consequences to it so people will stop lying so much because it’s such a serious topic.

FP: Can I show your name and profile in the article?

LM: sure!

FP: Last question. Are you Literally Hitler?

LM: Yes, I will always literally be Hitler.

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According to the comments from the original article, I don’t believe Imani Cezanne’s story because I’m a racist bigoted white man. So using the same logic, this black lady doesn’t believe Imani Cezanne’s story because she’s a racist bigoted white man. I’m guessing I will see comments about her being a self-hating black woman but that would be wrong, she’s definitely proud to be black and has no hesitation admitting that black people can be racist too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

How dare you have an opinion without all the facts in an opinion piece? It’s been several days since the incident now and Imani Cezanne has remained silent since the 25th. Maybe all the facts will never be known if she has reached an agreement with American Airlines. It won’t stop me from having an opinion about it, especially after doing research and getting more familiar with her character and work as a poet slam. From what I have seen, everything for her is about race and every day is a racial struggle against oppression and racism, whether it is present or not. She also seems to generalize white people to the point of being prejudiced against them. She also seems to like to be in control of situations and to start pouting when things don’t go her way. She admitted herself having a grudge against security policies in airports and being an angry black woman. She seems to look at every situation and person through racism colored glasses.

Applying those findings to the events that occurred aboard the plane, it would lead me to doubt that she was quite and respectful of the cabin crew. She probably started arguing with them about the perceived injustice that she saw with the foreign couple that got asked to move to another seat as safety precaution in case of emergency. It has been confirmed by the airline, as I had previously explained or predicted, that she refused to leave on her own so law enforcement had to be called, causing a 15 minutes delay to all the other passengers that had nothing to do with the incident but also to the following planes for the rest of the day.

Was the #FlyingWhileBlack hoax premeditated? NO

Did everything happen the way Imani Cezanne has described in her Tweets? NO

I think a series of events escalated the situation. I think she tried to fight the ultimate authority of the crew on the plane and that decision didn’t turn out well for her. I think that she played the racism card to wash away parts of the responsibilities she bore in that conflict. Who could blame a victim of racism of any wrongdoing if oppressed by the fascist authoritarian planetriarchy? That is my final conclusion at the moment on the events of that day.

Is it better to listen and believe blindly instead of making an opinion for yourself after studying the available facts and information about her? I would say no but that is my opinion and you’re free not to agree with it. You are free to go burn down American Airlines headquarters or boycott them into bankruptcy based on her statements alone. Might as well go back to mob justice and remove presumption of innocence of the accused (AA). I always thought all the unjust lynchings and hangings of the past were a mistake of history to learn from, not a goal to strive for in the future. Accusations should always be analyzed and dissected but the accused should also always be presumed innocent until found guilty.