The next time you are the genuine victim of racism and everyone yawns with disinterest when you complain, be sure to thank Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) for the fact that no one gives a damn about racism any more.
United Airlines passenger Jean-Marie Simon claims that on December 18th her first class seat reservation for a flight from Houston to Washington D.C. was inexplicably cancelled and her seat given to Rep. Lee following Lee’s request for an upgrade. According to Ms. Simon (see her Face Book post here) she watched as a flight attendant escorted Rep. Lee onto the plane ahead of “…uniformed military, toddlers, people with disabilities and Global Services passengers…,” unaware that her own reservation had been cancelled until she subsequently lined up to board. When she handed the attendant her boarding pass they could find no record of her reservation, and she was ultimately given a seat in economy-plus, but she was none too pleased about not being seated in the seat that she had specifically reserved weeks ago. Ms. Simon later had an opportunity to walk through the first class section, at which time she took a cell phone picture of Rep. Lee occupying the seat that Simon had reserved. This got the attention of a flight attendant who sat down next to Simon after she was back in her seat and questioned her about whether or not she intended to “…be a problem.”
In its own statement United has claimed that it appears Ms. Simon cancelled the reservation herself on her phone app after being notified that the flight was delayed, a claim which Ms. Simon denies (United eventually gave Ms. Simon $500 for her inconvenience). After the story hit the news Rep. Lee initially offered only the following statement: “I asked for nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary and received nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary.” Following an outpouring of anger, however, she posted a lengthy Face Book post of her own about the incident in which, as you may have guessed, she attributes Simon’s anger over the seat incident to racism. Ho hum.
Apparently it isn’t possible that a woman trying to complete her journey home from Guatemala was understandably irritated that the seat she chose and reserved using thousands of her banked airline miles was suddenly given to someone else, and that someone else just happened to be a person who had clout with the airline. Never mind that when she initially voiced her objections with United upon learning her ticket was cancelled Ms. Simon wasn’t even aware to whom her seat had been given. No. If a white person is upset because their reservation disappears and a black person with clout ends up taking their seat, this means they’re a racist.
I can’t say with certainty what happened with Ms. Simon’s reservation, but I do know that when someone like Sheila Jackson Lee pulls the race card there’s always a reason and it has nothing whatsoever to do with race. According to Ms. Simon, the congressman who was seated beside her in the seat she ultimately occupied told her that Rep. Lee has done this type of thing before. If you read Ms. Lee’s FB post, you’ll notice that she is careful in her words, never claiming to have reserved that first class seat herself but only claiming to have a boarding pass. I’ll let readers be the judge of who’s statement they can trust, but the point I’m making is that Sheila Jackson Lee is using the tired old race card for the sole purpose of taking people’s attention off what appears to be the use of her clout to steal someone else’s seat. Anyone of reasonable intelligence understands that the consequence of feigning victimhood to satisfy other motives is that it makes good people indifferent and cynical to such claims. Race-baiters like Rep. Lee know this as well as anyone else, but they just don’t seem to care. If the real victims of racism end up ignored or assumed to be posers because the claim of racism has been so rampantly abused, it is of no consequence to them as long as their own personal objectives are attained.
By the way, I wonder what the race was of the United employee(s) who assisted Rep. Lee with her upgrade and escorted her onto the plane ahead of all the other passengers? I wonder how it was that Ms. Simon, a 63-year old white woman, ended up being the person whose reservation was cancelled? Not being a race-baiter myself, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that if there was mischief involved, it was not racially motivated.
~CW
Categories: Political
Pesky Truth 
CW, apparently Ms. Simon is a Democrat with a history of being involved in civil rights. Maybe Rep. Lee and United should do some homework before they do this scheme again.
It certainly appears favors have been granted to Rep. Lee and nobody’s rights should be denied or disparaged in favor of another person. This is exactly how things like slavery started. If racism exists in this scenario, it is against Ms. Simon. I think Rep Lee plays by the famous quote by Justice Thurgood Marshall when he said “they [whites] have been discriminating for years, now it is our turn”. In other words, two wrongs make a right and there is no such thing as reverse discrimination.
Hope you are having a good Christmas and New Year holiday season.
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I think you’re right, Patrick. Sheila Jackson Lee decided it was her turn a long time ago. It always bugs me that selfish people like her get credit for being “public servants.”
Same to you on Christmas and New Year’s, Patrick. Are you back in Colorado?
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“By the way, I wonder what the race was of the United employee(s) who assisted Rep. Lee with her upgrade and escorted her onto the plane ahead of all the other passengers?”
Well, let me answer that question for you. According to two articles I read yesterday about this incident, the stewardess — oh, excuse me, “flight attendant” — who escorted Lee to her seat was black.
That being said, however, it turns out there’s another element in play, too. Apparently dingbat Lee has a long and storied history of pulling these antics, regularly showing up at airline boarding gates with her economy class ticket in hand and then demanding an upgrade. Since she’s a member of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, which overseas issues affecting airlines, guess what happens when she does that.
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Yes, Brian, it looks like SJL picked a fight with the wrong lady this time, because her ugly history is now making front page news.
I suspected that the United employees who assisted the new Queen of Mean with commandeering another passenger’s reserved seat were probably black as well. It seems to me that if anyone has a right to claim “racism,” it’s the passenger whose seat was stolen.
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Great job on this one, CW. After reading and watching this story evolve over the last coupe of days, one link led to another and another, and told the story of just what a nasty vile hypocritical witch SJL really is. In addition to this incident, here’s a couple of examples I came across…
“It’s about 200 paces from the awning of Jackson Lee’s Capitol Hill apartment to the marbled steps of the Cannon House Office Building, where her office is. Most people think the walk is a pleasant one… In a city that consistently ranks among the nation’s worst for commuting, Jackson Lee would seem to have it made. But apparently it’s not convenient enough. Jackson Lee is routinely chauffeured the one short block to work–in a government car, by a member of her staff, at the taxpayers’ expense. And apparently in violation of House rules.” (no doubt she sees that limousine as her royal coach, for which she owes us reimbursement, big time)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/sheila-jackson-lee-limousine-liberal/article/2162
Next was this one…
“The Democrat has developed a reputation for making life hell for any clerk, stewardess, or pilot unwilling or unable to make her three-and-a-half-hour flight anything less than glamorous. She takes advantage of federal travel perks to book multiple flights (only to cancel at the last minute and at no charge). She demands an upgrade to premier seats. She expects, in her words, “to be treated like a queen.”
Sometimes it gets ugly. For instance, when one peasant of a flight attendant failed to serve the food Jackson Lee requested, the congresswoman went wild. “Don’t you know who I am?” she reportedly shrieked. “I’m Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Where is my seafood meal? I know it was ordered!”
That inflight incident was in 1998, and Jackson Lee has only increased in seniority since. She sits on the Committee on Homeland Security and she serves as the ranking member of the subcommittee on transportation security, no doubt, giving her even more sway over the airlines and even more of a reason to feel entitled.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rep-sheila-jackson-lee-terror-of-the-skies-since-1995/article/2644383
The worst part is that the Houston area peasants this queen ‘serves’ have no idea how badly she’s screwing them over. You’re right – she is the poster gal for term limits.
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Those articles paint a picture of a woman who is a nasty Prima Donna with a giant chip on her shoulder. For her and her ilk to get away with the things they do, the rest of the world has to be labeled as racists.
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Sheila Jackson Lee – if there’s a more repugnant member of congress in D.C., I can’t think of whom it might be. She should be thanking her lucky stars that she IS black. She’d never have been elected in 1995 and wouldn’t have amassed a 22 year long career in empirical bureaucracy. That alone is enough to establish that Houston’s 18th Congressional District is populated by blacks who are just like her.
For a brief history showing the reason that she’s been voted the “meanest member of congress” multiple times, the Houston Chronicle has a slideshow of 30 occasions when SJL mistreated people on her staff. When a person can’t even be civil to your staff, what does that say about you?
According to accounts from former staffers, Jackson-Lee would berate staffers, calling them names like “You Stupid Motherf***er.”
She was physically abusive, throwing cell phones at staff and demanding unsafe driving while being chauffeured, which resulted in at least one car accident. She would demand staffers go to the market and buy garlic supplements for her at 2AM and would be furious with them if her demands were not met.
Dozens of tales of mental and physical abuse of those around her have been reported and corroborated.
“You don’t understand. I am a queen, and I demand to be treated like a queen,” she once told a member of her staff.
And a queen expects to get a first class seat – especially one that was previously assigned to one of those pesky white people.
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Yep, Garnet, Sheila Jackson Lee is one nasty woman. She could be the poster gal for term limits.
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