Minnesota resident Demetria Poe is praising Delta Airlines for “taking a stance” against racism following her exchange with a white passenger.
Poe was traveling to Washington D.C. from Minneapolis for the Commitment March when the incident occurred.
In an interview with USA Today, Poe said the white woman purposefully swapped her American flag face mask for a Blue Lives Matter mask once she realized she was sitting next to a Black woman.
“That woman was trying to entice me into an argument because there was no need for her to flip that mask in my presence,” Poe said. “She didn’t do it for anyone else. It was as if she was making a statement and wanted me to know.”
Poe, 25, shared her experience on Facebook.
According to Poe, she was minding her own business when the woman started the conversation shortly after takeoff saying, “I support blue lives because I support our officers.”
Poe said she explained to the woman that blue lives do not exist and that the life an officer exists “but there is no such thing as a blue life and that stamen is nothing but a rebuttal to the fact that BLM has been disregarded time after time,” Poe said.
But it didn’t stop there with the white passenger.
The woman began to make statements like, “Africans from the west sold the most slaves,” “The reason Blacks were 3/4th was because the south would have too many votes,” and “Having Blacks in America has been the best thing for them because they can work [their] way up.”
During the flight, the flight attendants checked on Poe and offered to move her seat. Once they landed in DC, flight crews informed Poe that the woman would not be flying Delta because the company does not stand for racism or discrimination.
Delta replied to Poe’s viral Facebook post, stating, “When we say Black lives matter, we mean it. You matter to us, Demetria.”
Poe said Delta Air Lines went above and beyond to handle the situation by upgrading her return flight seat.
“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.
“I said all this to say that it’s time and situations like these [where] these companies need to take a stance! This furthers why I will only fly Delta Airlines! At this point, make me an ambassador, Delta,” she said.
