A retired Cook County judge says she was racially profiled during an American Airlines flight and now she is seeking civil damages against what she believes is a case of “travelling while Black.”
On a first-class flight to Phoenix with her husband and elderly mother on February 10th, the Hon. Pamela Hill-Veal, says an attendant aboard Flight 2765 falsely accused her of slamming a bathroom door and disturbing other passengers. Though it was a morning, three-hour flight, and she noticed no sleeping passengers, she said the reprimand was puzzling.
Later, when she used the lavatory again, the same flight attendant reprimanded her again, though she says she made no such disturbing noise. The accusation led to the judge being directed to “use the bathroom in the back of the plane” for the duration of the trip, she said.
“I looked at him and told (the attendant) there were other people who used the restroom, and you didn’t say anything to those three white men about slamming the door,” Veal said. “The third time I went, (the attendant) followed me back to my seat and grabbed my shoulder, pointed his finger in my face and told me I was going to be arrested because he didn’t like the way I had spoken to him—and that I had hit him.”
Hill-Veal said not only was she insulted by the accusation, having never touched the airline employee, but she intentionally remained calm throughout their exchange. “When he touched me, he was trying to escalate the situation and I was not falling for that trick. I am 70 years old. I spoke firmly, but calmly, and told him I was dissatisfied with how I was being treated. We had paid about $4,000 for those seats—and I was being told to use the bathroom in the back of the plane.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Hill-Veal was appointed as a judge to fill a vacancy in 2004 and was elected to the Cook County Circuit Court in 2006 and retained as a circuit court Judge until her retirement in 2012. She was assigned to the municipal division where she oversaw cases involving small claims, breach of contract, and insurance matters. Prior to serving on the bench, the well-known jurist served as a professor at Chicago State University and worked in private practice.
She is licensed to practice law in several jurisdictions, including Illinois and Michigan, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court.
Hill-Veal told the Crusader she believed she and her family were targeted by the attendant and racially profiled after her husband was asked to exchange seats with another passenger, which he declined. “He assists me as caretaker of my mother,” she explained. “There were 20 other passengers and (the attendant) could have asked them as well.” As the only African Americans travelling in first class, she said after that incident the cabin attendant, whom she described as a young Asian male, became increasingly hostile toward them.
“Then as we landed and approached the gate, the pilot came on the intercom and asked that everyone remain seated because they were going to have law enforcement come on board,” she told the Crusader. “None came. However, when we were escorted off the plane, there they were waiting on the bridge.”
As two police officers and an American Airlines representative escorted Hill-Veal and her relatives into the terminal, she asked if she was being arrested. Passengers filed off the plane and began “snickering” and ridiculing her, the retired law professor said. Authorities confirmed they had been called about a passenger but noted they would not arrest her. “At that point, an American Airlines employee took me out to the gate and asked me to explain what happened, and I thoroughly explained the situation. When he left a woman (who either worked at the airport or for the airline) came over to me and said, ‘I’m sorry I overheard your conversation… and I want you to know the same thing happened yesterday (to someone else)’.”
The judge said not only was she outraged at how she was treated, but she realized that other African Americans may have faced similar ridicule by airline employees. The following day, Hill-Veal said she reached out to Phoenix police department and the responding officer told her “The airline employee has no authority to threaten me with arrest. He said the only person with that authority is me (the police officer) so he should have never threatened you would be arrested,” she explained.
The Crusader reached out to the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Police Department and the responding officer but did not receive a response.
Hill-Veal also contacted American Airlines to resolve the matter but received a response that alleged she had been “intoxicated” and “aggressive” during the flight. A letter from customer relations employee Savitree Stone stated, “Regarding your concerns, we initiated an investigation and contacted our colleagues in Flight Services for more information. As outlined in your complaint, you were approached by our crew member regarding slamming the lavatory door. Our crew member stated that you were not complying with their request to keep sounds at a minimum as a courtesy to other sleeping passengers. At that point, our team member stated that you were intoxicated, and you were becoming aggressive toward him which alerted him to let the captain know of the situation happening in the cabin.
“The safety and comfort of all our customers and team members is our top priority. Accordingly, our team members have the responsibility to respond to any behavior that threatens the well-being or functionality of our crew or any American Airlines team member,” Stone wrote.
Attorney Lester Barclay, who is representing Hill-Veal, wrote a scathing letter to American Airlines President Robert Isom, denying the assertion that the judge had been drinking and demanding immediate redress. He also outlined a pattern and practice of discriminatory incidents by the airline involving Black passengers.
“The false statements outlined in your letter and the information your customer relations personnel, Ms. Savitree Stone, stated to Judge Veal were clearly indicative of staff members protecting their coworkers,” Barclay wrote. “Surprisingly to you, Judge Veal rarely drinks alcohol. … I believe any claim she was intoxicated was a pretext for discriminatory action by your flight attendant. Further, (she) is not an aggressive person. She is one of our most respected jurists and has a reputation for being fair and honest.
“…I was able to obtain some history regarding American Airlines and its relationship to African American passengers,” Barclay said. “There have been numerous complaints regarding discriminatory actions toward Black passengers. So, this incident is similar to how Black passengers are treated by your airline. Not only Black, but in this case a Black Senior Female passenger who has been a loyal member since the 1990s.”
“Traveling While Black” refers to the experience of African American travelers facing racism and discrimination while journeying within the United States. Though the term was coined in the 1990s, it gained a renewed focus after the George Floyd uprisings in 2020. However, the practice is rooted in the 20th Century experiences of Black motorists seeking safe travel while on the nation’s roadways.
“The Negro Motorist Green Book,” was a travel guide published between 1936 and 1967 during the height of Jim Crow. Black travelers risked lynchings (shot, assaulted, hung) for minor ‘transgressions’ such as stopping for gas, walking into a white restaurant, or napping along the side of the road. The publication listed friendly establishments that were essential to ensuring safe passage for motorists and passengers aboard trains and buses.
Efforts to desegregate the nation’s airports started around 1948. While airlines were not legally segregated, most airport facilities were as airports operated under local jurisdictions. Due to inferior airport accommodations, combined with hostile and humiliating treatment from employees and no redress, Blacks were discouraged from flying.
Due to pressure from the Civil Rights Movement, the federal government began to file actions against southern airports which led to court-ordered desegregation in 1963. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, located in the Department of Transportation, each play a key role in ensuring racial discrimination does not manifest on airlines.
In 2020, American Airlines was sued by a group of passengers for racial discrimination after a Black man was escorted off the plane for asking for a seat change. Elgin Banks alleged that when he was denied a new seat, he noticed white passengers were freely allowed to switch seats. However, once he inquired why they were given preferential treatment, airline staff became hostile. When five other travelers spoke up to defend Banks, whom they said was calm, they too, were escorted from the Los Angeles to Phoenix flight. All were subsequently banned from the airline.
“When you see something that is wrong and unethical … we need to stand up and say something,” Brandy Flowers, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told the media at the time.
The carrier initially denied the allegations, but later issued Banks an apology.
In other cases, white and Black friends travelling in first class noticed at the ticket counter that the African American woman’s seat had been changed to economy without explanation. However, when the African American passenger asked why she had been downgraded, the American Airlines employee offered no explanation.
In 2021 Porscha and Charles Davis accused the airline of racial hostility after they were kicked off a flight in Miami after a white passenger, an alleged American Airlines flight attendant, called the woman the n-word after she accidentally reclined her seat too far.
Another Black passenger, Kyetra Bryant said while traveling out of Charlotte Douglas Airport in November 2021 with checked-in luggage, she noticed something odd on her subsequent bank statement. It read “African American, African service charge.” The woman said after contacting American Airlines she was given the runaround for months. Later, the airline issued a statement saying: “The customer alerted American to the offensively labeled baggage fee on her bank statement in mid-December. We were disturbed by what we saw and immediately launched an investigation to understand what occurred. The baggage fee was purchased at a self-service kiosk in Charlotte. Our team members are unable to change text when processing a charge and we’ve determined the issue originated with the credit card company and bank issuer….”
In 2023, the Airline came under scrutiny again when Olympian Sha’Carri Richardson was forced off her American Airlines flight after a disagreement with a flight attendant. That same year, musician David Harris was accused of “trafficking” his biracial children after an airline employee confronted him about why he was travelling with the two boys aged 7 and 12. The company later issued an apology.
Repeated allegations against the airline, led the nation’s oldest civil rights organization in 2017 to issue a travel advisory to African American passengers. “The NAACP for several months now has been monitoring a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African American passengers, specific to American Airlines,” the NAACP said. “In light of these confrontations, we have today taken the action of issuing national advisory alerting travelers – especially African Americans – to exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them to disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions.”
Federal law prohibits airlines from discriminating against airline passengers based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), physical disability, or ancestry. The U.S. Department of Transportation issued guidelines to airline carriers, under 49 U.S.C. § 40127, to address particular situations where passengers may be denied boarding or removed from aircraft before take-off.
In the meantime, Hill-Veal says she vows to help put an end to discrimination Black travelers face on airlines.
“This has to stop,” she said.
This report was made possible by the Inland Foundation and the Crusader Newspaper Group.
