DEI-nying Reality

Some friends and I are sitting at the boarding gate at the airport. Our plane is delayed. There are a couple of guys in pilot uniforms sitting near us. The gate across from us suddenly opens, and the pilots get up and walk through that one. 

Another passenger near us (whom we do not know) breathes a sigh of relief and says to his family, loudly:

Passenger: “Thank God. I was worried they were gonna be our pilots.”

Passenger’s Son: “Why?”

Passenger: “Oh, come on. It’s soooo obvious they’re DEI hires.”

The passenger’s son shrugs and goes back to playing on his Switch. I involuntarily scoff.

Passenger: *Looking over at me, and saying aggressively.* “What was that, lady?”

Me: “So, you see a Black pilot, and you automatically assume he’s DEI? Pretty racist.”

Passenger: “That’s not racist! That’s just… saying how it is!”

Me: “That’s not how it is. If he’s a pilot, then he’s qualified, end of conversation.”

I make a more-than-obvious motion with my phone, trying to make it look like I’m busy and done with this conversation.

Stranger: “Are you honestly tellin’ me that if you see a Black man flying our plane, you’d be happy?”

Me: “Honey, if I see a Black man flying our plane, I’m putting on lipstick.”

He looked disgusted. His wife told him to “Calm down and be quiet. We’re not doing this again,” and his teenage son was giggling behind his Switch.