{"id":176094,"date":"2020-09-06T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-06T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/09\/06\/signs-of-the-apocalypse-2\/"},"modified":"2020-09-06T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-06T23:59:00","slug":"signs-of-the-apocalypse-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/09\/06\/signs-of-the-apocalypse-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of the Apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>I cannot believe that I am writing this, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theroot.com\/delta-stands-in-solidarity-with-black-passenger-after-s-1844956732\">Delta Airlines has done the right thing<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid black; float: right; margin: 0px 10px; padding: 5px; text-align: center; width: 325px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tHwKmZnc7l4\" width=\"315\"><\/iframe><br \/><i>John Mulaney on Delta<\/i><\/div>\n<p>Delta took the side of a Black passenger after a Karen in the seat next to her picked a fight with her, and Delta upgraded her seat on the return flight.<\/p>\n<p>Delta did the right thing, and I still cannot believe that I wrote that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">A Black woman harassed by a white passenger on her Delta flight to Washington, D.C., last week is singing the airline\u2019s praises after it upgraded her flight in response.<\/p>\n<p>Demetria Poe, 25, was flying from Minneapolis to D.C. on Thursday to attend the Commitment March, held last Friday on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. Poe, who spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/travel\/airline-news\/2020\/09\/03\/delta-air-lines-upgrades-woman-harassed-blue-lives-matter-flyer\/5696919002\">USA Today<\/a> after her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/demetriapoe95\/posts\/10224051790749134?_ga=2.150553845.2127194709.1599230336-664908863.1599017826\">Facebook post<\/a> detailing the experience went viral, says she was already seated when a white passenger, who realized her seat assignment was next to Poe, swapped out the American flag face mask she had been wearing for a Blue Lives Matter one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat woman was trying to entice me into an argument because there was no need for her to flip that mask in my presence,\u201d Poe told the news outlet. \u201cShe didn\u2019t do it for anyone else. It was as if she was making a statement and wanted me to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poe did not react to the mask, but after takeoff, the white woman began to goad Poe into conversation, telling her, \u201cI support blue lives because I support our officers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Poe noted to USA Today that she remained \u201cvery calm\u201d throughout the conversation because she suspected her seat mate wanted to provoke her. White passengers around her also intervened and \u201csnapped on this lady\u201d in Poe\u2019s defense. Delta flight attendants also checked on her and offered to move Blue Lives Karen. Once the plane landed in D.C., Delta attendants relayed to her that the white woman would no longer be flying with the airline because they do not \u201cpersonally or as a company stand for racism and discrimination,\u201d Poe wrote on her Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt the genuine and sincere concern the flight attendants had for me and the people around me,\u201d Poe told USA Today. \u201cI was shocked. I was happy, but I was still fearful. Living in Minnesota, I have seen how things get blown up. I just really wanted to get off the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the story didn\u2019t end there for Poe. On her return flight to Minneapolis, her seat was upgraded, and she received a small bag full of gifts, including a \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d Delta pin. Poe was moved to tears by the gift and was heartened by the airline choosing to stand in solidarity with her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a major corporation saying that Black lives matter,\u201d Poe said, adding that she \u201cwill only fly Delta\u201d from now on.<\/p>\n<p>After Poe\u2019s Facebook post detailing the incident went viral, the airline dropped a response to her: \u201cWhen we say Black lives matter, we mean it. You matter to us, Demetria.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We are living in strange times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cannot believe that I am writing this, but Delta Airlines has done the right thing. John Mulaney on Delta Delta took the side of a Black passenger after a Karen in the seat next to her picked a fight with her, and Delta upgraded her seat on the return flight. Delta did the right &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[384,506,522,398],"class_list":["post-176094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-aviation","tag-bigotry","tag-heroism","tag-racism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}