Have you been following this story?

A college football player, returning to campus following the death of a friend, was pulled off a US Airways flight last week for not complying with the orders of flight attendants and the captain of the plane to pull up his pants that were sagging low enough to expose his underwear.  When I first read it, I thought it was a little bit of a strange story.  Are we really making big deals about what people are wearing on airplanes, in San Francisco no less?  I understand folks get nervous about security on flights these days, but doesn't it seem a little over the top?

Almost immediately there was a question on the motive of his removal from the flight.  Were they attempting to remove him from the flight because they thought he was dressed inappropriately?  Were they attempting to remove him from the flight because they thought he was a security risk based on his reaction?  Or were they attempting to remove him from the flight because they stereotyped him in the first place, letting his appearance tell a story that didn't match to what was going on.

But then the story deepens with a video posting of the interaction on the plane.  From the video, it's pretty clear that he is not doing anything that warrants concern beyond wanting to just get home.  According to the witnesses he had already complied with the request of the airline employees, albeit delayed from the timing desired by the airline.  So the police arrested him for, among other things, refusing to comply with the orders of the captain and resisting arrest.  Given the video, it seems a little odd.  I'm having trouble understanding why it had to get taken to the level it was.  Unless, of course, you consider that racial stereotypes played a role in the matter.

And then we arrive at today, where there is a report that a man exposing more of his body (in only women's undergarments, as the picture shows) travelling on a plane, where the airline employees ignored the complaints of the customers.  From the story: "A white man is allowed to fly in underwear without question, but my client was asked to pull up his pajama pants because they hung below his waist."

The airline can hide behind the company line of "he should have followed the directions of the flight crew."  I think there's a certain amount of that in this, but that's not the whole truth.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  While the racial motive question was brought up quickly, the evidence is building more and more and more.

This is how trust is broken.  This is how peace falls apart.  This is how everything that has been gain disappears in just an instance.  We can say this is an isolated incident, or that we wouldn't do the same in a similar situation, or that we shouldn't let one (or a few) bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.  But none of that does justice to Deshon Marman, or his family, or his friend that passed so tragically a month ago.  How easily could this have turned into another situation like the tragedy in the loss of Oscar Grant, a story once again rehashed in the news even as this incident on the plane was happening?

It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure these things don't happen.  It is incumbent upon all of us to stand up and say when we see injustice.  It is incumbent upon all of us to recognize that this situation could happen in front of us any day, at any time, and speak the truth in those situations.  Without everyone recognizing as an individual the role we each play in creating justice in the world, there is still work to do.