Muslim college student Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was on a Southwest Airlines flight on April 6th when he called his uncle and spoke to him in Arabic. That got him kicked off the flight and questioned by the FBI. The night before, he had attended a dinner with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Makhzoomi was in the middle of telling his uncle about the experience when he was detained.
Vox lists five other recent incidents where Muslims were pulled off flights and questioned by authorities, saying that this is “part of a growing wave of Islamophobia in the US that encompasses both violence and inconvenience.”
Vox reports that in every case, the airline upholds that race and religion were not a role in the incident. Per Southwest Airlines, “Our crew made the decision to investigate a report of potentially threatening comments overheard onboard our aircraft.”
Mr. Makhzoomi is asking for a public apology from the airline.
