02/08/2006: 
Asshat of the Week
Gratuitous use of the Race Card
from AP @ The Boston Globe
An African-American woman claims Southwest Airlines unfairly subjected her to its policy requiring large passengers to buy two seats because of her race, her lawyer said at the start of her federal trial against the airline.
She was told at the plane's loading bridge she needed to buy a second seat for "her comfort and safety," Osborne said, even though no one was sitting next to her. At the time, the 5-foot-8-inch Thompson weighed between 300 and 330 pounds, according to court records.
When Thompson asked for an explanation, she didn't get one. "It was never made clear to her that she was too big to fit in her seat," Osborne told the six-person jury.
She refused to leave and decided to return to her seat. An employee told her that if she left, Southwest will give her a refund, Osborne said. She declined, but she became increasingly agitated and decided to leave -- only to be met outside the plane by a few Southwest employees and two Rockingham County Sheriff's Department deputies. At that point, she started yelling at the group, at times using profanity.
"Did you ask me to purchase another ticket because I'm too fat to sit in the seat? Did you ask me to purchase another ticket because I'm a black woman?" Thompson said, according to court records.
Thompson, who got a refund, said she was humiliated and suffered emotional distress. "Southwest just asked me to get off the plane either because I'm too fat or too black or just a woman," she said to people as she was being led to the ticket counter, according to court records.
The airlines don't ask some one to purchase another seat for their safety and comfort because they are black. They do it because you are fat. So Ms. Thompson, you're fat, get over it and stop weakening the cases of those with a legitimate discrimination case.
