A woman says that American Airlines called the police on her for flying while “fat and black.”

On Thursday, Amber Phillips, host of the podcast “The Black Joy Mixtape,” was flying from Durham, N.C., to her hometown of Washington, D.C., in a window seat of a 65-person plane. Space was so tight that when she placed her arm on the seat divider, it touched that of her fellow passenger.

“The passenger next to me, a white woman, made it clear with her body language that I was bothering her — she was aggressive when flipping her hair with her hand and fastening her seatbelt — and she was bullying me,” Phillips, 28, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Amber Phillips says American Airlines discriminated against her for being “fat and black.” (Photo: Courtesy of Amber Phillips)

The woman asked Phillips to move over. “I explained that I couldn’t move because I was in a window seat, and I said, ‘You are being mean to me. The world does not revolve around you.'” The woman responded by propping her left right on her leg so that the sole of her shoe was nearly touching Phillips. “I told her, ‘Don’t let the bottom of your shoe touch me.’”

The women spent most of the 60-minute flight in silence. Phillips accidentally dropped her headphones on the floor but fearful of making further contact, she didn’t reach for them. However, as the plane began its descent, Phillips began recording herself and her seatmate.

“When people practice discrimination, they do so because they believe people won’t tell on them,” says Phillips. “Shame keeps people like me from turning a light on it. But I deserve to exist. I deserve to fly. I didn’t deserve how I was treated.”

When the plane landed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Phillips says the woman informed the flight attendant that she had been harassed by Phillips. Determined to get home without further incident, Phillips deplaned and boarded an airport shuttle on the tarmac, when suddenly an attendant instructed her to step off the bus.

When I decided to take a picture & video to document the incident, I deplaned, picked up my bag, and boarded the shuttle. While I'm on the shuttle, this woman LIED that I assaulted her and the @AmericanAir flight attendant called the cops to remove me from the shuttle bus. pic.twitter.com/czMyxkQVQ7 — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

“I was scared,” says Phillips. “My phone battery was dying and I was scanning the crowd trying to make eye contact with anyone who could help. A woman asked if I was OK and I said no. I gave her my phone number, asked her to record anything that happened next, and I got off the bus.”

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Phillips was met by an officer from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department who requested her ID. “As I was reaching for it, I asked, ‘Did you ask the other woman for her ID?’ He said, ‘No. And I don’t need your abuse.’”

Phillips handed over her passport, which she says the officer “snatched” (an exchange Phillips says was verified by a black tarmac worker) and then asked for a secondary form of ID. “He said he was investigating this as an assault,” says Phillips.

Soon, the gate manager and a second female officer arrived, and Phillips says, “I am here because my arm touched a white woman.” She added, “I told the police I was terrified and one said, ‘If you did nothing wrong, you shouldn’t be afraid.’”

Both women were ultimately allowed to leave after police had determined there was no wrongdoing, but the incident isn’t over for Phillips. Later that night, she tweeted about the experience in a thread that went completely viral.

I'm tired but in the morning, I'll tell you all how a white woman @AmericanAir flight attendant called the cops on me bc I made the white woman siting next to me uncomfortable bc my arm was touching hers on flight AA5580. The cops were called on me for flying while fat & Black. pic.twitter.com/9vc0PoFbX4 — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

This was my view tonight because I made a white woman uncomfortable and held her accountable by AT LEAST making sure I documented her outrageous behavior of trying to humiliate me on a flight. @AmericanAir put my life and the life of other passagers in danger tonight. pic.twitter.com/yf9iyuubFq — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

This white woman literally spent the entire 45 minute flight making an active scene bc my arm was touching hers. Loudly asking if I could "move over" on a plane so small everyone's carryon bags had to be valeted. It was awful! — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

This WW & the @AmericanAir FA tried to humiliate me. The FA yelled into the shuttle that she was calling the cops based on nothing but the lies of this WW. I'm so grateful I knw to ask questions like "Am I being detained?" to speak the same launage as the cops to get home safe. — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

Also! My hair was patted down by @TSA before boarding the @AmericanAir flight that led to the cops being called on me because MY ARM WAS TOO CLOSE TO A WHITE WOMAN. A horror movie and inside look to flying while Black as someone who has to fly ALL THE TIME. — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

When this WW sat back in her seat during landing after leaning forward on her seat tray for most of the flight, she was able to sit back comfortably without touching me. That was my final straw. She made the CHOICE to act out and make me feel like shit when she didn't have to. — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

She knew she was wrong. She knew I was going to hold her accountable with my pictures and that's when she decided to pair up with the white @AmericanAir flight attendant to call the cops on me after I was already off the plane and on the shuttle to go home. — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

While waiting on the shuttle another passager ask me if I was ok. I said no and that I was afraid. I asked the woman "Will you take my number? And if something happens to me, please record it and send it to me." because my phone was dying and I didn't want to die without proof. — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

Can you imagine? Trying to find eyes of compassion to give someone the courage to document you in case you harm or murdered by the police?! — amber j. phillips (@AmberJPhillips) April 27, 2018

American Airlines sent the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle:

“Last night on American Eagle flight 5580, operated by PSA Airlines, from Raleigh-Durham (RDU) to Washington, D.C. (DCA), two passengers seated next to each other engaged in a verbal altercation while on board. Upon landing in DCA shortly after 8 p.m. ET, one of the passengers requested the flight attendant contact law enforcement. The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) Police Department was called to assist. We have reached out directly to the customers for more information.”

The airline also included a statement from law enforcement:

“At approximately 8:05 p.m. on April 26, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police responded to a call from an American Airlines flight attendant after a passenger traveling on American Eagle flight 5580 made a request for police assistance. The request followed a reported in-flight incident involving two passengers, which continued on an American Airlines shuttle bus at Reagan National Airport. Upon arrival on scene, Airports Authority police asked both passengers to exit the shuttle to protect their privacy and to allow for an investigation. Both passengers complied with police requests, and it was determined that there was no immediate threat to passenger safety. There were no arrests, no charges were filed and both passengers continued on their way without further incident”

Phillips says, “As a black woman, my life is always at risk, especially when facing policies that are in place to discriminate. Fatness is not the problem — the problem is the discriminatory and racist way we treat fat people in this country. I also need people to know that the intersections of my identity as a fat, black woman are what led to the racist interactions with the white passenger and the police.”

Phillips also says the woman’s decision to involve the police was an attempt to portray her as an aggressor that could have had severe consequences. “This situation is why white people should stop calling the police on black people who are simply existing, especially in a country that, right now, is filled with unapologetic hatred,” she says. “I’m telling my story because I deserve to exist.”

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