PIVOT Statement on the Violent Removal of a Vietnamese American by United Airlines and the Chicago Department of Aviation

April 11, 2017

As an organization that aims to engage and empower Vietnamese Americans for a just and diverse America, PIVOT categorically condemns United Airlines and the Chicago Department of Aviation for their violent actions used to force a passenger off the United Airlines flight from Chicago, IL to Louisville, KY.

United Airlines and the Chicago Department of Aviation are responsible for causing serious physical injuries to a man who only wanted to go home. It is important to note that this man is a Vietnamese American, which raises the possibility that his race played a role in his treatment. It is important to note that the man is a doctor who needed to go see his patients. However, there is no justification for inflicting violence on any American who poses no physical threat regardless of race, occupation, or other characteristics.

This event is part of an increasingly disturbing trend in America of corporations that engage in extra-legal activities and law enforcement agencies that perpetrate arbitrary violence against innocent people, particularly racial and ethnic minorities. It is also part of the increasing trend of hate crimes committed on Asian Americans.

We call upon United Airlines to issue a firm apology to the affected individual and offer redress. We call upon the Justice Department to investigate this potential hate crime. And we call upon Vietnamese Americans, Asian Americans, and all Americans to resist unchecked corporate power and police brutality.