INTELLECT AND REASON – AT 7:40 P.M. ET:  Ah, what could be more stimulating on a Saturday night than to reflec on the intellectual level of our political conversation.  Example:

SAN FRANCISCO -- The leader of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP said Friday that US Airways engaged in discriminatory conduct by requiring an African American passenger to pull up his pants before boarding a plane, but allowing a white man to board another flight wearing little but women's undergarments.

Do you remember the days when people dressed up to fly?

The Rev. Amos Brown said the group's national leaders would contact airline officials to suggest sensitivity training for executives and ask them to "atone, repent and show their wrongness is understood."

I understand hurt feelings, but maybe some internal work within the community is needed to teach "youths" about decent behavior. 

"The NAACP, in no uncertain terms, contends that this young man was profiled," Brown said in reference to Deshon Marman, the 20-year-old passenger who was asked to lift up his pants by an employee before he boarded a June 15 flight at San Francisco International Airport. "He's been a victim of racial injustice, and US Air owes to him and his mother an apology."

There are people being shot in the streets of Syria, and this is what the complaint is about...pants.

Marman's mother, Donna Doyle, said she did not condone the sagging pants fashion, but was appalled when she learned that the airline had allowed a man to fly in an outfit that exposed his midsection and thighs.

On this she's correct.  Someone made a terrible judgment about allowing a man to fly in nothing but ladies' underwear.  He didn't even look fetching.

"They judged my son by what he was wearing," Doyle said. "There's a double standard here when they don't judge others."

Representatives of US Airways did not return phone calls Friday seeking comment.

COMMENT:  Well, the story originates in San Francisco, so we expect craziness, but this one asks too much of us.

June 25, 2011