Catch an Airline by the Toe
Will Big Eenie Meenie be the next tobacco?
BY COLLIN LEVEY
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST
Southwest Airlines is always trying to be funny. Now a case in which its trademark humor apparently failed is turning out to be the funniest story of all.
This week, a judge in Kansas City, Kan., has cleared for takeoff a discrimination lawsuit against the airline. But Southwest's sin is not about overweight or undertall stewardesses, or even about the racial profile of their pilots. Southwest is in trouble over a children's rhyme. And it could cost them nine, ten, a big fat hen.
Here's what happened: Two black women, sisters Grace Fuller and Louise Sawyer, were coming back from a trip to Las Vegas, when they were, they say, emotionally assaulted by a recitation on the plane's loudspeaker. "Eenie meenie, minie, mo; pick a seat, we gotta go," said a smart-aleck stewardess.
The plane's passengers chuckled at the quip and the women say they felt discriminated against because people thought they were too dumb to find a seat. Stay with us. The rhyme of concern, which Judge Kathryn Vratil of the federal District Court said "could reasonably be viewed as objectively racist and offensive," was troublesome not because of what the stewardess said, but what she didn't say.
The grit of the lawsuit hinges on the fact that "eenie meenie minie mo"--which now continues "catch a tiger by the toe" originally used a racial slur in place of the feline reference.
Being practically the only airline actually making money, Southwest is an obvious target for frivolous lawsuits. The more fascinating riddle is what this case could mean if the women win in court, or far more likely, if Southwest settles out of court.
Other cases involving statements misconstrued as racist were specific and unique. Here, the possibilities are endless. Black rapper Craig David uses "Eenie Meenie Minie Mo, Gonna miss you, that I know" in a song by the same title. There's a music label called Eenie Meenie Records. And the phrase has appeared in movies from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" to "Pulp Fiction." Big Eenie Meenie just might be the next tobacco.
More saliently, what other jackpots could be found in Mother Goose's nest? On the sexual front there's the sexual harasser Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, who kissed the girls and made them cry. And there's the slander about boys being made of snips and snails and puppy-dog tails. An army of expert witnesses will testify that's untrue.
Environmental wrongs and abuses of harmless creatures are also rampant. Shel Silverstein's book "The Giving Tree," with only one sentence per page, must have inflicted untold logging. The Eensy Weensy spider is constantly being washed away and made to climb back up that infuriating spout. And never mind the appalling labor conditions endured by the mouse in "Hickory Dickory Dock."
With movies like "Bringing Down the House" in which Steve Martin and Queen Latifah spoof racial stereotypes as crudely as possible (the film's Web site announces "Everything he needs to know, she learned in prison") incidents like the one on Southwest would seem tame. But racial sensitivities and potential payouts are a dangerous mixture--just ask Morgan Stanley, or Coke, or Nissan.
Southwest has gotten to its place in the world by refusing to tolerate frivolous or extraneous costs. Here's hoping that ethic will force them to keep standing no matter what the loudspeaker says.
Ms. Levey is an assistant features editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays. |
