'You matter to us': Delta Air Lines upgrades Black traveler harassed by white flyer

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Demetria Poe is applauding Delta Air Lines for "taking a stance" against racism and discrimination after she was harassed by her seatmate during a recent flight from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. 
Poe told USA TODAY Wednesday that a white woman appeared to purposefully swap her American flag face mask for a Blue Lives Matter mask once realizing her seat assignment was next to Poe, a Black woman. Blue Lives Matter supports police officers and is a counter movement to Black Lives Matter, which aims to eradicate white supremacy and has organized nationwide protests in response to police violence against Black people.

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Despite feeling "uncomfortable" and "fearful," Poe said she didn't engage with her neighbor. "I feel like in that situation they do want to see a Black woman get angry," Poe told USA TODAY. 

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But, according to Poe, the woman initiated dialogue by saying, "I support blue lives because I support our officers." "I explained to her blue lives do not exist," Poe recalled, adding that she remained "very calm" throughout the conversation. "The life of an officer exists, but there is no such thing as a blue life and that statement is nothing but a rebuttal to the fact that BLM has been disregarded time after time," she wrote in her Facebook post. "Us saying black lives matter don’t mean all other lives don’t matter," she said. "We are saying if all lives matter, 'Why is it justifiable for anyone to slaughter Black people?' "

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Poe, a kindergarten teacher in Minnesota, said she pointed to the unjust deaths of Philando Castile and George Floyd, who were killed by Minnesota officers.

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