Bobby Abtahi is trending. As Tim mentioned in Leading Off — and as you have surely read in either the New York Times, Jezebel, New York Daily News, Gothamist, or any of the dozens of media outlets covering the story — the lawyer, one-time city council candidate, and Dallas City Plan Commissioner didn’t board his flight from New York to Dallas with Virgin America Airlines. The Iranian-American, scruffy faced after a week on the beach, wasn’t allowed to board when the captain and crew of a flight allegedly stated that they didn’t feel comfortable with him on the plane.
Maybe it was racial profiling. Maybe it was a bizarre misunderstanding. Maybe it was a sprinkle of both. I’ll let other outlets hash that one out. I just wanted to call attention to the classy gesture Abtahi made in the heat of the moment. Whereas if I were in Abtahi’s shoes I would have probably been letting flow a slew of expletives and insults directed at anyone wearing Virgin America red, Abtahi took the high road. When Virgin Airlines realized it had just made a monumental PR blunder, the airline apologized and offered Abtahi two free tickets for a future flight. Abtahi said the apology was enough and told the airline to give the tickets to the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas.
What is the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas? It is an organization that has been saving the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our community for 15 years — refuges and emigres who have fled an untold variety of sufferings, from war torn countries and deadly gangs to abusive husbands and tribal cruelties.
If you want to better understand HRI and the people the organization serves, read the five migrants’ stories we recently featured to celebrate HRI’s 15th anniversary. Unlike some of the most outspoken recent opponents of immigration, HRI knows the real face of migration because it works with migrants every day. It knows that, rather than pose a danger, these people represent one of our community’s greatest resources, individuals who can appreciate the value and preciousness of this country’s best political and social ideals precisely because they have overcome so much to embrace them.
It was the perfect gesture from Abtahi, not merely showing class by refusing to allow the airline to “throw freebies at a problem,” but using the incident to diffuse some political tension implicit in his situation. He redirected the airline’s spurious generosity at a Dallas organization whose track record stands in striking contrast to the xenophobic vitriol that has become synonymous of late with a particular kind of Texan caricature.
