On last Wednesday, October 16, a Marine Corps veteran was forced to move a Delta Air Lines flight at San Francisco International Airport after a flight attendant took issue with their shirt.
Catherine Banks had just settled into her seat on the plane when a flight attendant informed her she would need to get off the plane because the shirt she was wearing was “threatening.”
“A male flight attendant was saying, ‘Ma’am, ma’am.’ I looked around, like, ‘Who was he talking to?’ And it was me.
He said, ‘You need to get off the plane,’ and I was like, ‘What did I do?’” Banks told KNTV.
“He said that shirt you’re wearing is threatening,” Banks said.
I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m a Marine Corps vet. I’m going to see my Marine sister. I’ve been in the Marine Corps for 22 years and worked for the Air Force for 15 years. I’m going to visit her.’
He said, ‘I don’t care about your service, and I don’t care about her service. The only way you’re going to get back on the plane is if you take it off right now.’”
The shirt in question read: “Do not give in to the w3r within. End veteran su:ici:de.”
Banks was forced to change her shirt in front of the flight attendant on the jet bridge. She said since she was not wearing a bra she had to turn her back in order to change her shirt.
“I feel like they just took my soul away. I’m not a bad person, and that T-shirt, I should be allowed to support myself and veterans,” she said.
