After NAACP meeting, American Airlines to launch anti-racism training

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Civil rights leader Tamika Mallory (right) arrives with her god-mother Hazel Dukes, (right) NAACP New York State Conference president, for a press conference on Tuesday in New York. Mallory, who helped organize the Women’s March on Washington, has accused an American Airlines pilot of racial discrimination in kicking her off a flight. | Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press

American Airlines plans to implement company-wide anti-racism training, conduct a diversity analysis, and overhaul the carrier’s customer discrimination claims process in the wake of charges of racial bias and insensitivity leveled at the airline, the Sun-Times has learned.

The company will announce a four-point plan of action to combat the charges after a meeting between American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory.

In a letter to employees Thursday afternoon, obtained by the Sun-Times, Parker said the civil rights leaders shared perspectives on racial discrimination in its customer service that were “hard to hear.”

However, he wrote, “We viewed the feedback as an opportunity. Our engagement with the NAACP and Tamika Mallory has led to conversations both with external organizations and our own team members that we may not have otherwise had.”

The NAACP commended the airline.

NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said the civil rights group will not ift its travel advisory against American Airlines until progress toward a new anti-racism plan is made. | USA Today Network

NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said the civil rights group will not ift its travel advisory against American Airlines until progress toward a new anti-racism plan is made. | USA Today Network

“This is a good start to changing internal processes that allow for discrimination, racism and implicit bias to continue to exist within companies,” said Johnson. “We think that the steps taken by American Airlines, if fully implemented, will not only change the way they engage their customers and employees but will serve as a model for other companies.”

The meeting was the second to be held with the civil rights organization after it  issued a national warning to African Americans on Oct. 24 that if they fly the airline, they could be subject to discrimination or even unsafe conditions.

After a meeting with the airline Oct. 31, the group said discussion centered on “the issues outlined in our travel advisory and the need for meaningful corrective action by the airline to prevent future incidents of this nature. We had a full and frank dialogue, but words are no substitute for action.”

Parker said Thursday that while the airline is “proud of our longstanding commitment to equality and diversity … it is our intention to reflect on the experiences our team members and customers have shared, and lead our airline forward to create a more inclusive society.”

The airline is initiating four specific actions. Beginning in January, American will implement a new annual implicit bias training for all 120,000 employees, refresh its conflict resolution training, and hire an independent firm to conduct a top-to-bottom review of its hiring and business policies related to diversity, expected to take nine months.

Further, the airline will overhaul its process of responding to discrimination claims from the nearly 200 million customers served yearly, creating a new customer resolution team to respond within 48 hours and expedite investigations. It will also  improve its internal system for responding to discrimination complaints from its own staff, ensuring accountability for staff who violate anti-discrimination policies.

“Our work is only beginning, but … we are confident in our ability to set a new standard in the area of diversity and inclusion,” Parker said after the meeting.

The airline had merged meetings with both the NAACP and Mallory, who had claimed she was a victim of racial bias when an American pilot ordered her off a flight on Oct. 15, due to a dispute with another airline employee over her seat.

In issuing the advisory, the NAACP said it had for several months monitored a pattern of disturbing incidents involving African-Americans on American, that “suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines.” Last week, the group said the advisory opened up a floodgate of complaints, its national office fielding some 600 reports — and nearly 10 percent coming from current and past employees of the airline itself.

The group said it will continue its travel advisory until sufficient progress toward the goals are met, and will continue to accept reports regarding alleged discrimination on its website.

“We think we’re on the right road, but the NAACP will continue to meet with Doug Parker and other senior‎ American Airline employees to ensure that the company walks the walk as well as it talks the talk,” Johnson said.

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