The Hero We Deserve

“Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now… He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.”

I was on a flight from Boston the other day and witnessed a true act of heroism. It involves a Somali family (consisting of two adult women, a girl, and a young boy) and a man who has become a legend ‘round these parts. His name is David Sun-Country and he’s the hero we deserve. I’ll get into the details below but before we begin… a little music is in order.

Throughout the flight, it was pretty apparent to everyone around the family that there was something a little different with their boy. He struck me as autistic but I am far from an expert so let me describe his behavior. He looked to be about 10-12 years old. He made a kind of random hand and arm movements. And he cried for a lot of the flight. It was an atypical cry — more of a moaning than an outright wailing. The adults with him didn’t seem surprised or upset by it so I assume it wasn’t uncommon. They also didn’t really try to calm him or stop the behavior. Whatever his issues were, it was clear that he wasn’t having much fun on the plane.

After touching down, he started to get agitated. And listen, we all wanted to get off that plane. Sun Country doesn’t exactly care about comfort or pleasure. It’s the public transit bus of the skies. In response to this, the women gathered him and the young girl and tried to get off. This is where our hero valiantly stepped in. Upon seeing this egregious act perpetrated by these women he was forced to act. As their abayas billowed towards him, he wedged himself, ass-first, into the aisle, blocking their path.

When the women tried to push by, he stopped them, explaining that he simply could not let them pass. You see, he explained to them, there is a PROCESS and an ORDER to deplaning. It does not involve people running up to the front of the plane. Why, if we let everyone do that there would be a mad rush every time one landed. No, no, no, that simply would not do. Instead, he clarified to people who had clearly been on planes before, we start at the front of the plane and go row by row.

Thank god he was there to stop and explain to these two grown-ass women how we get off planes. If not, can you imagine what might have happened? You know what? I think he deserves another song.

Forget that it was absolutely none of this white man’s business what these women were doing or why they were doing it. Forget that they may have had perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to get off the plane a bit quickly, even if that meant skipping by a few other people. Unless this man OWNED the airplanes (hence the name David Sun-Country) he really had reason to do anything other than sit down and shut his mouth. But like so many other white men before him, he felt whatever was within his purview was his domain to control.

And listen, it’s fine if you agree with this guy. If we deboarded planes based on whoever ran to the front of the aircraft first it would be mass chaos. But I think we can also come to terms with the notion that exceptions exist. For three hours, this young boy suffered. Why prolong that suffering? Simply because of how things are “supposed” to be done? That seems incredibly rigid and highly unempathetic.

Quick side tangent: can we talk about what the F is going on in this video? Because there is A LOT. I initially found this song for this post because I thought it would be funny. My god, I had no idea the video was this crazy. I figured it would be some silly typical love story. NOPE! Is that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mickey Rourke? YEP! I can’t tell if this is a really bad Kill Bill ripoff or something worse. I don’t think it can be because Kill Bill came out in 2003 and this video was from 2001 so I guess maybe Kill Bill is a ripoff of it? Huh. Also, what is with the uncomfortable and bizarre kissing going on here? I mean…

Yuck. Wow. That video is a journey. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Millenium was a WILD time to be alive. We legit thought the world was gonna end because some computer nerd forgot to include the “19” when they made dates in the program. Anyhoo…

Back to David Sun-Country. Who, by the way, didn’t even have the guts to face these women. He did all of this with his back turned to them (remember, his ass is blocking the aisle). He just kind of shouted this over his shoulder. If he had been looking at them, he might have seen what I saw: resignation.

I’m sure the women could have argued with him or pled their case (not that they needed to). Maybe they could have even convinced him to let them pass or at least mind his own business. The plane has flight attendants. That’s kind of their job to manage. But no. I read a lot in their body language. This seemed to be far from the first time a white man explained to them their place in our society.

He was so condescending. Again, explaining deboarding as if these women had never been on a plane before. Umm, my guy, how do you think they got here? The subway? Maybe he isn’t that observant and didn’t hear their accents or notice their hijabs. Maybe this had nothing to do with race and how white people treat who they perceive as “others” or “foreigners” to their land. I can’t help but wonder how this would have gone if it had been a white family with a child who was having trouble. I wonder if he would have said anything at all. Would he have blocked THEIR movement? Would he have claimed control over THEIR bodies? Who knows.

All of this took place about 5-6 rows in front of me. I had a window seat and there wasn’t much I could do other than watch. I considered yelling at him. But what would that have accomplished? At best, he would have grudgingly let them pass. And since the women weren’t saying anything, I didn’t feel like I needed to step in and fight their battle for them. Let’s not compound a white male problem by adding in another one.

I considered going up to him afterward and talking to him about it but I’m not sure what good that would have done either. People who think like he does feel supremacy in their bones. A stranger isn’t going to change that.

I wonder if David Sun-Country was proud of himself. Did he think he stopped an injustice that day? Did he feel like he put those uppity Somalis in their place? Did he ever question what he did? I cannot say.

All I know is what I saw: the hero we deserve.