Young Eagle provider claims Racism (NOT SPIN ZONE)

colomtnflyer

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iAM in AK!
http://cbs13.com/local/tuskegee.racism.lawsuit.2.1229820.html

"Warren said he has been told by airport operators to quit hosting the "Young Eagles" program that teaches local kids how to fly.

Warren has filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination, among other things. He claims he was told by airport officials his flight training program is a business subject to taxes and airport regulations, but the lieutenant colonel says the pilots who train the kids don't charge a dime.

"The only money that's flowing was out of my pockets and into the gas tanks," he said. "It doesn't make any sense."


I have never heard anything like this coming from any airport operator who knew anything about the YE program.... Talk about being short sighted! :frown2::nono:
 
I don't like to ever see the racism claim used inappropriately (his claim is only true if the airport is allowing others of different races to perform similar activities), but I also think the airport's stance is ridiculous! Its definitely an anti-GA stance and bound to hurt their business, they should be promoting the guy!
 
YE is not flight training. So the Airport operator if they infact said what has been attributed to them are way off kilter. But I don't see where the "racisim" is. Is it just b/c the Lt Col is Black? It looked like he had two young men there one black and one white. There has got to be more ( there should be more) to be able to use the racism claim. Very confused here.
 
Here's an article that makes it clearer that it is not Young Eagles. Apparently he has a scholarship program for youth. Obviously, we don't have (anywhere near) all the facts yet. I still don't see any specific allegations that back up the charges of racism.

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-tuskegeediscrimination,0,4906612.story

Edit: The video says that his scholarship program is called "Eagle Youth."
 
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Your right Grant there is a lot of info missing. They keep taking about flight instruction then say he's giving rides to underprivledged kids. It could be just the ususal press bungle of an aviation story. There may be a reason to levy a charge if there is infact flight instruction going on for something such as insurance for the airport but other than that I can't figure out whats going on and still don't understand why he's equating the airport manager's actions with racisim. It will be interesting to follow this up.
 
Based on the sketchy details in the stories, I don't see any evidence of racism, either. There's plenty of evidence of idiocy, however.

-Rich
 
Perhaps Craig Fuller can arrange a beer summit for the Lt. Col and the Airport manager.:cheers: Of course thats POST flight.
 
The whole thing is bizzare...I can't for the life of me understand how an airport in these day and times stifles anything that is positive...
 
The whole thing is bizzare...I can't for the life of me understand how an airport in these day and times stifles anything that is positive...

Chances are a FBO is unhappy because they think this guy is "stealing" their flight training business. What the don't understand in this case is that there's probably no chance whatsoever that the kids this guy is "training" would have signed up with the FBO in the first place. I've heard similar drivel from charter pilot wannabes who get upset when they hear of commercial pilots taking low end flying jobs for the experience and no pay.
 
I predict that we'll see an about-face on the part of the airport. They're going to realize that it'll cost them a lot more in negative publicity than they could possibly recoup at $500/mo.
 
Even if the airport is in the wrong, and "morally" they may be, despite his decorated history Warren needs to be called to task, LOUDLY, for the B.S. racism claim.

Sorry...but the "I am black and someone said boo I am claiming racism" schtick is getting old.
 
While I disagree (based on the facts at hand) with the airport managment this has nothing to do with racism.
 
While I disagree (based on the facts at hand) with the airport managment this has nothing to do with racism.

To be fair, it seems the article stated that racisim was just one of the claims against the airport. Could be that some lawyer type suggested throwing whatever mud they could think of to see what sticks.
 
To be fair, it seems the article stated that racisim was just one of the claims against the airport. Could be that some lawyer type suggested throwing whatever mud they could think of to see what sticks.

That wouldn't surprise me.

But, given what little I know, I wouldn't be surprised if the "students" aren't primarily "disadvantaged" youths from the big city that are likely to have darker complexions. And bringing "them" to an upscale suburban area can trigger a less than charitable reaction…
 
That wouldn't surprise me.

But, given what little I know, I wouldn't be surprised if the "students" aren't primarily "disadvantaged" youths from the big city that are likely to have darker complexions. And bringing "them" to an upscale suburban area can trigger a less than charitable reaction…

Good point.
 
Moreover, since we clearly don't have all the facts in the matter, there could be actual instances of overt racism that simply have not been reported.
 
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