On February 10th, British Airways – the UK’s flag carrier – made history! What did they do? Fly to a destination in record time? Put the world’s largest passenger airplane into service? Announce a revolutionary new type of aviation technology?
No. They made ‘history’ by operating the first flight with an all black crew – the first flight in which everyone involved (from ground staff and gate agents to cabin crew and pilots) was a black person.
According to some of the many, many news sites that covered this ‘story’, the ‘historic’ flight was part of the UK’s Black History Month. Not being aware that it was Black History Month, I had to double-check online.
Apparently, the UK’s Black History Month is actually October, and it’s America’s Black History Month that runs in February. (I’m not sure who decides these things.) So either British Airways got the date wrong, or more likely, the news sites wrongly assumed that Black History Month is the same in both countries.
According to a passenger on board, the pilot “announced” the news – whereupon the passengers “clapped”. This isn’t quite as surprising as it sounds, as the flight was from Barbados whose population is 92% black. It would admittedly be somewhat surprising if a flight from, say, Tokyo erupted into applause after hearing the same news.
I think you’ll agree this whole thing is very bizarre. And it would be just as bizarre with any other ethnic group (although it would obviously never happen with white people, as the airline would be instantly denounced as “white supremacists”).
Why, exactly, is having an all black crew an achievement? I don’t think anyone doubted that black people work in the airline industry. And British Airways has around 35,000 employees. So all they’ve really done is take a bunch of staff who happen to be black, and assign them to one particular flight.
In case you were wondering whether this happened by accident, and that’s why it’s news, it didn’t. A spokesman for the airline told Business Insider, “We’re proud to have supported our Be ME (Being of a Minority Ethnicity) colleague network group to organise British Airways’ first ever all Black colleague flight”.
Shuffling staff around according to ethnicity – truly something to be proud of. And will they now organise an all Indian colleague flight, or an all Chinese colleague flight? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
How I discovered the ‘story’ is also worth mentioning. It was shared on Twitter by a woman named Pippa Malmgren (who was apparently an advisor to President George W. Bush). She wrote, “It’s about time. Statistically this should be happening on a regular basis.”
Malmgren may not have realised it was a woke publicity stunt. But we can still ask: should this be happening on a regular basis? Not even close.
If we generously assume that staff on flights between London and Bridgetown are recruited half from Britain and half from Barbados, the expected proportion black is about 50%. And suppose the flight crew comprises 20 people. The chance of every one of them being black is then 0.0001. It would be like flipping a coin 20 times in a row, and getting heads every single time.
What we’re meant to be ‘celebrating’ here is essentially a racially segregated workplace. The presence of only one ethnicity is now something positive. We’ve gone from “Celebrate diversity!” to “Celebrate homogeneity!”
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It’s only a matter of time before they revive Trans World Airlines.
More T, vicar?
To which my old Scottish work colleague (you know who you are) would always reply “no but I’ll have another f***ing scone”. Which always made me laugh.
TWA Tea was always preferable to Pan Am coffee.
Or Trans Woke Airlines.
And Pandemic American Airlines.
Here’s a message i would pass on to BA:
Focus on keeping the planes flying safely with the best personnel available and stop fussing about social crusades because otherwise people are liable to get killed in an accident.
Too right. Most of us, sane people, don’t give a flying f**k what colour the crew are, so long as they can keep the plane in the air and then land it safely. With our baggage on the same plane is a bonus. I just wish companies and govts would stop this kind of stuff and return to normality.
Its like the Virgin Airline TV ad featuring trans, girly boys, and other such, and a female pilot (not mentioned, but implied lesbian). I have no problem with the crew being that if they are the best people available, but as you say, aircrew is no place for dumbed down positive discrimination.
That’s something entirely different. If I meet someone in a professional capacity I don’t care about – and don’t want to be bothered with – details of his private life, especially not with details about sexual preferences. That’s apparently a bit difficult to understand to people who believe the highest achievement of man is have truly original sex with someone (or something) but their very human desire to boast about what they believe to be their achievments doesn’t mean they have a right to molest people with this boasting who cannot just chose to spend time with someone else.
Years ago, someone paid for busses in Reading being labelled with Some people are gay. Get over it! By that time, I unfortunately didn’t have the money for this, but I had really liked to pay for bus with Some people don’t care. Get over that! on its sides, because that’s the actual problem here: Manic attention whoring.
Or on purpose by big farmer !!!
The bizarre irony of course – which makes me want to scratch my own eyeballs out with a toothpick – is that these f*in morons are the real racists. They are the only ones seeing colour, the only ones discriminating, the only ones spreading division and racism; the rest of us just see people. It’s just incredible that we’ve got here. I absolutely despair. Now, where’s that blo*dy toothpick…
With you, FL…
a story from 40 years ago. one of my work colleagues took an internal flight in Nigeria. he was the only white passenger. then they saw the pilot come on board who was black. all the other passengers got off the plane.
(Capital letters would be appreciated).
It’s quite common in the US for the word “black” when referring to “black people” to be capitalised e.g. “The plane was staffed 100% by a Black crew”. The word “white” when referring to “white people” is not capitalised.
See this article for an example: Black History Month on Broadway | Times Square NYC
Just in case anyone reading thinks that appeasing race grifters is a good idea or that the ongoing, endless “anti-racism” campaign is anything other than a war which will end with the subjugation of one side or the other.
I tried to read through this but fail to understand the significance. The USA has a large, black minority which remained legally opressed until the late 1960s. That’s not exactly something the non-black Americans should be very proud of but they probably aren’t. It’s also still recent enough that there are still all kinds of real-world effects. OTOH, most of the world is not the USA and current or historical problems of the USA are not our problems and we mustn’t let USA-cosplaying fanboys make them into our problems. And that’s basically it.
No idea of the significance, just making the point that the madness will most likely escalate and that what starts in the US has a habit of ending up everywhere.
I don’t believe it ends up in Poland or Czechia or Hungary, much to the chagrin of our thoroughly Americanized USA-cosplaying fanboy social, cultural and political elites (almost completely Americanized in Germany, only partially so in the UK). This has obviously no effect when I state that but the stance to take here is We’re allied with the USA but the Americans are not our overlords and we reject this cultural imperialism. I remember reading an editorial written by a black British guy a while ago who basically demanded the same because he claimed his experiences as a black British guy were different from experiences of black people in America and he didn’t feel like being erased in favour of them. Especially not in the name of anti-racism.
I don’t know central or eastern Europe that well but judging by people I know from there I think there’s a good chance you are right.
Hard to know for sure but I tend to think if I were black or some other “minority” I’d find the whole business incredibly patronising. No-one speaks for me except me; don’t lump me in with millions of others I don’t know just because of one specific feature of mine.
Probably the worst flights over the Atlantic I would say avoid like the plague there are far better options. They weren’t too bad in the mid 1990s but they have turned themselves into a bargain basement company.
Don’t know about flights over the Atlantic but I’ve used them to go skiing in Europe in the past and they were very good. No extra cost for skis or hand luggage unlike Ryan Air or Squeezy Jet. By the time you add all the “extras” the so called cheaper airplanes charge there’s little difference in cost.Polite staff as well. I think we have to give credit where it’s due even if they come up with woke nonsense like this.
Woke racism in action. Let’s see them try the same bullshit stunt on a flight out of Beijing or Qatar.
I remember when black people use to complain about “token blacks”. They probably still do.
Maybe a town centre restaurant should have a night of all Indian waiters and chefs.
*****
Stand in the Park Make friends & keep sane
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Elms Field
near Everyman Cinema & play area
Wokingham RG40 2FE
Next up will be a flight crewed entirely by the visually impaired, including the pilots
“We’ve gone from “Celebrate diversity!” to “Celebrate homogeneity!”
Or to put it another way – out and out racism and racism for racism’s sake.
Very inclusive. Nice.
Your ‘Diversity’ at work.
The BA Head Hochos who pat their own backs for this rather boring stunt, would likely be more than happy to send their daughters to a Girl’s school in the leafy Home Counties, exclusively staffed (from Headmaster to cooks and janitors) with bearded and excitable Pakistanis.
That’s a lot of folks for one spear.
Totally insane.
“The chance of every one of them being black is then 0.0001.”
Should be 0.000001 (about 1 in a million).
I have traveled by air with all black crews 30 years ago when traveling in Nigeria but I guess modern virtue signaling is more rewarding.
Hiring should be by merit and merit alone.