‘Bring people together, not apart:’ Chance encounter on a Southwest Airlines flight turns into emotional discussion on race

A black Southwest Airlines flight attendant didn’t know the white passenger she was approaching to talk about racism was one of the airline industry’s most powerful executives.

Flight attendant JacqueRae Hill, who lives in Duncanville, sat down next to American Airlines CEO Doug Parker on a flight Friday to Panama City, Fla., after catching a glimpse of the book he was reading. Parker’s book of choice was White Fragility, an exploration of why it’s difficult for white people to discuss racism that was written by University of Washington professor Robin DeAngelo.

“As we are boarding my first flight of the day, I smile and I greet people when they come on and a man was holding a book that has been on my ‘to read’ list,” Hill posted to Facebook. “The book is entitled White Fragility. I was so happy to see that book in his grasp that I knew after I finished my duties I was going to make a point to ask him about it.”

Hill, a 14-year flight attendant for the Dallas-based airline, said Parker was sitting in an open row and seemed pleased to talk about the book. Their discussion took place as racial justice protests began to erupt nationwide over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Oh, I’m halfway through, it’s really good,” Parker told Hill, according to the Facebook post. “It really points out how important these conversations on race are."

Hill said she became emotional talking about the book with the passenger, who still hadn’t identified himself.

“As I began to respond, the tears just start falling,” Hill wrote. "I have been so sad every day and I just want to understand and be understood so we can begin to fix it.”

Parker, who was wearing a face mask, eventually revealed himself as the CEO of American Airlines. Hill’s mother is a flight attendant for American Airlines, based in Washington, D.C.

“I’m so sorry,” Parker said about the book, according to the post. “And it’s our fault that this is like this.”

Parker posed for a picture with Hill at the end of the flight and handed her a handwritten note thanking her for the encounter and wishing his best to Hill’s mother in Washington, D.C.

“I’m saddened that we as a society have progressed so slowly on an issue that has such as clear right and wrong,” Parker wrote in the note. “Much of the problem is that we don’t talk about it enough.”

“Thank you for talking to me and sharing your emotion,” Parker continued. “That took courage.”

He also shared his email (which she blacked out) and told her to call anytime.

Parker has said he regularly flies other airlines to gauge the competition and was taking the flight because American didn’t have any available seats. He’s also somewhat known for his encounters with flight attendants. Last year, an American Airlines flight attendant spilled half a tray of drinks on Parker’s lap and he laughed it off, even posing for a picture with the employee at the end of the flight.

Parker shared his experience with Hill in a letter to American Airlines senior leaders. He said before he got off the plane, he had an email from Hill’s mother, Patti Anderson, thanking him for the exchange.

“I had done nothing, of course,” Parker said. “JacqueRae was the brave one. I was sitting comfortably in the back sending you guys emails without thinking twice about what this young woman — and others like her — were going through. She was a gift to me.”

Parker said the book was recommended by Martin Nesbitt, a member of American’s board of directors and co-CEO of private investment firm Vistria Group.

“Please get out and talk to your teams today,” Parker urged the airline’s leaders. “Bring people together, not apart. We need caring leadership now more than ever.”