JetBlue Gives $240,000 to Oakland Man

JetBlue Airways Corp. and the Transportation Security Administration have paid $240,000 to an Oakland man who claimed he was discriminated against based on his ethnicity and Arabic writing on his T-shirt. Raed Jarrar alleged that agency and airline officials prevented him from boarding a flight out of John F. Kennedy Airport in August 2006 until he agreed to cover his shirt. The shirt said "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic. Jarrar said JetBlue eventually allowed him on the flight, but made him sit in the back. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Jarrar's behalf in August 2007. The organization said TSA and JetBlue agreed to settle the case late last month and delivered the settlement to Jarrar on Friday.