American Samoa’s Teacher of the Year Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka ‘s says she has been discriminated against because of the color of her skin
Suluai-Mahuka along with other Teachers of the Year from other states and territories was returning home after an exciting experience at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Her experience at the camp was excellent, she said in an interview with CBS 42.
“I loved everything about Space Camp,” she said. “The staff there were very professional. They were very inclusive.
“I would’ve loved more representation among the speakers there, but other than that we were always well taken care of.”
But At the Huntsville International Airport, her experience changed.
Suluai-Mahuka said that she was denied overnight accommodations by American Airlines, which she had requested when her flight was canceled due to a weather event.
“If that had been the whole story, if that would have been their policy for everyone, I would have panicked, but we would have figured it out,” she said. “That would’ve been fine.”
That wasn’t the whole story, though.
A few minutes after she and another Teacher of the Year, a fellow Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), had departed the airport, they contacted a third colleague, Ohio’s State Teacher of the Year, Anthony Coy-Gonzalez, a white male.
He was on his way to attempt to board what was then a canceled flight. They informed him that he would be denied accommodations and that they should all work together to figure out their next moves.
What happened next, Suluai-Mahuka said, made American Airlines’ earlier actions clearly discriminatory.
Her white colleague Coy Gonzalez was not only provided overnight accommodations, he was given a food voucher and was offered a taxi.
Coy-Gonzalez said in a social media post. “They were given nothing but dismissal when they requested help. I walked in and was offered a hotel, taxi, and meal without asking. Same flight. Same time. Same airline. American Airlines, this is not okay.”
