← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 4923 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-02-11
2003-02-11 04:40 | User Profile
[url=http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readarticle.cgi?105+10038]Liberty Post[/url]
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A judge has set a trial date in a discrimination lawsuit filed against Southwest Airlines by two black passengers who were upset when a flight attendant recited a version of a rhyme with a racist history.
Grace Fuller, 48, and her sister Louise Sawyer, 46, were returning from Las Vegas two years ago when flight attendant Jennifer Cundiff, trying to get passengers to sit down, said over the intercom, "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; pick a seat, we gotta go."
The sisters say the rhyme was directed at them and was a reference to its racist version that dates to before the civil rights era: "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; catch a n----- by his toe."
"It was like I was too dumb to find a seat," Fuller said. Sawyer said fellow passengers snickered at the rhyme, which made her feel alienated.
The sisters are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil last week dismissed the sisters' claims of physical and emotional distress but set trial for March 4.
"The court agrees with plaintiffs that because of its history, the phrase `eenie, meenie, minie, moe' could reasonably be viewed as objectively racist and offensive," Vratil wrote. The second line of a modern version of the rhyme usually goes, "Catch a tiger by the toe."
Airline attorney John Cowden said there was no intent to discriminate against any passenger.
Cundiff, who is white and was 22 at the time of the incident, said she had never heard the offensive version of the rhyme. She said she learned the Southwest version from co-workers and used it as a funny way of getting passengers -- who are not assigned seats on Southwest -- to sit down.
Plaintiffs' attorney Scott Wissel said the sisters also want Southwest to stop using the rhyme and provide employee training to prevent such incidents.
Copyright é 2003, The Associated Press
2003-02-11 04:46 | User Profile
The end is near....
2003-02-11 05:28 | User Profile
Originally posted by wintermute@Feb 11 2003, 05:09 **Many here will be interested to know that 'eenie, meenie, minie, moe' is a Pre-Roman counting system from the British Isles. Its ultimate origin is unknown.
Wintermute**
So you mean the ancient Celtic inhabitants of Britain sowed the seeds for modern racism? Now we know who to blame it on. :lol:
2003-02-12 15:46 | User Profile
Sisters Suing Southwest Over 'Racist Rhyme'
Monday, February 10, 2003
KANSAS CITY, Kan. ââ¬â A judge has set a trial date in a discrimination lawsuit filed against Southwest Airlines by two black passengers who were upset when a flight attendant recited a version of a rhyme with a racist history.
[url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78139,00.html]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78139,00.html[/url]