OPINION:
Because Marine Corps veteran Catherine Banks was wearing a T-shirt that read “Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide,” a flight attendant pulled her off a Delta Air Lines flight from San Francisco last week.
The crew member reportedly approached her and instructed her to get off the plane, insisting that her T-shirt violated Delta’s attire policy. He demanded she remove it (despite her being braless underneath).
The shirt is part of the “22 a Day” collection from the Til Valhalla Project, which aims to raise awareness about the estimated 22 veterans who die by suicide each day. Yet the attendant told Ms. Banks, a veteran on her way to see her sister, also a veteran: “I don’t care about your service, and I don’t care about her service. The only way you’re going to get back on the plane is if you take it off right now.”
Ms. Banks had to turn around on the jet bridge and shield herself from view to replace her shirt with a sweatshirt before reboarding the plane. Once back on, however, she found that the premium seat she’d paid for had been given to another passenger. The incident also delayed the flight, so she missed her connection.
This is just yet another example of someone’s hypersensitivity and bigotry concerning U.S. military service being allowed to rule the day.
RICK KNIGHT
Henrico, Virginia
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