A black woman who was harassed by a white passenger as she flew to a Black Lives Matter march has praised the US airline for its response to the racist remarks.
Demetria Poe says she is now a loyal Delta Air Lines customer after the company banned the racist woman from travelling with the airline.
Poe, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher, detailed her experience in a candid post shared to Facebook last week. After helping the Caucasian woman with her bags as they boarded the flight from Minneapolis to Washington DC, the passenger began to make pointed comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Poe said the woman claimed that 'Africans from the west sold the most slaves' and 'having blacks in America has been the best thing for them because they can work [their] way up'."
The white woman was also wearing a face mask and pin emblazoned with the slogan 'Blue Lives Matter' - a counter-protest pledging support for police officers in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, which advocates for non-violent protest against incidents of police brutality and racially-motivated violence against black people. The movement also campaigns for urgent changes to America's law enforcement and judicial system, which has a demonstrated history of racial bias and discrimination.
Poe had been travelling to the capital to attend the Commitment March on Washington - held on the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington - to stand in solidarity alongside thousands of others in memory of George Floyd and black individuals killed by police officers.
"I explained to her [that] blue lives do not exist," Poe wrote.
"The life of an officer exists, but there is no such thing as a blue life and that statement is nothing but a rebuttal to the fact that BLM has been disregarded time after time after time."
She said that nearby passengers - a white woman and man - spoke up in Poe's defence and flight attendants quickly intervened, offering to relocate the passenger.
Once the flight landed in Washington DC, the crew informed Poe that the woman would be barred from flying with Delta as the airline does not stand for racism and discrimination.
"So yesterday on my flight home I got a special delivery, my seat was upgraded before I even boarded, and I got some gifts from Delta," Poe wrote.
"I just thank God that this didn’t flip onto me because [in] too many cases black people are guilty until proven innocent."
The official Facebook account for Delta Air Lines commented on Poe's post: "When we say black lives matter, we mean it. You matter to us, Demetria."
In a statement to The Washington Post, Delta said among the gifts given to Poe was a Delta-branded Black Lives Matter pin. Conceptualised by a flight attendant, the pin was created as an optional accessory for cabin crew to wear as part of their uniform.
"We have a lot of work to do for true equity to be within reach for the black community, and it's part of our culture to represent efforts our customers and our employees care about," a spokesperson for Delta said.
"For now, these pins are for our people and not available to customers, but our teams chose to include a pin for this customer as part of their gesture."
Speaking to The Washington Post about her experience, Poe said she hopes she never has to attend a demonstration like the Commitment March again.
"I don't want to have to go to one like that ever again. This is something my grandmother marched for when she was young, and I don't want my future children to have to do this too," she said.
