Afghan American Plaintiffs Accept Theater Chain’s Apology

Two Afghan American college students who contended they were thrown out of a movie theater in Orange because they were speaking a foreign language and looked “suspicious” agreed to dismiss their federal lawsuit this week in exchange for an apology, court documents show.

Cal State Fullerton undergraduates Mohammad Sayed and Omar Zazia filed the civil rights lawsuit against the AMC theater chain in August, alleging that they were unlawfully ejected by theater employees in May during a showing of “Deuces Wild” at the Block at Orange.

The students alleged that they were also singled out for attention because of their skin color. They said they had suffered great embarrassment, humiliation and fear as a result and demanded unspecified damages.

American Multi-Cinema Inc. and its security firm, Totally Secured Inc., denied the claims and accused the students of slander. An attorney for the firms said one of the employees involved in the incident is himself an Afghan American and that the workers had done nothing inappropriate.

According to the settlement agreement, which was made public Wednesday, no money was paid as a result of the action and the movie theater denies any wrongdoing.

However, the settlement states that “defendants hereby apologize to plaintiffs for their respective roles in the events giving rise to the civil action.”

On Wednesday, lawyers representing the students, including a counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, hailed the settlement as a victory for civil rights.

“The students are extremely gratified and vindicated,” said Benjamin Wizner, attorney for the ACLU of Southern California. “From the very beginning they made it clear that they weren’t in this for the money, what they wanted was an apology. That’s often harder to get than money.”

The law firm of Ross, Dixon & Bell also represented the students at no charge.

Lawyers for the students said they found no evidence that the incident was a part of any pattern of discrimination, and that they were satisfied with the company’s policies.

Robert Platt, an attorney for AMC, said Wednesday that the incident was hardly an episode of discrimination and that the students had mischaracterized the incident.

“In exchange for paying a lot of money in legal fees for what would be a frivolous case, we agreed to apologize,” Platt said. “Not one nickel was paid. We deny any wrongdoing of any nature.”

A local Afghan American activist as well as the Council on American Islamic Relations in Orange County said they have heard many complaints of subtle forms of discrimination at the workplace and public venues since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But they were not familiar with the AMC lawsuit.

“There must have been a misunderstanding,” said Afghan American activist Fauzia Assifi of Laguna Niguel. “Somebody who speaks a different language shouldn’t be thrown out and humiliated. The Afghan community is very quiet and hard-working. They’re not looking for trouble, but they have been scrutinized.”

Sabiha Khan, spokeswoman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, said her organization receives an average of one complaint of discrimination a day. The cases can be difficult to prove in court because the offenses are often subtle, she said.

“The best thing to do is see how you can fix the problem out of court,” Khan said.

Khan said that if the students had been discriminated against, they shouldn’t have had to wait so long for an apology.

“If that’s what the students wanted, though, to preserve their dignity, it’s a step in the right direction,” Khan said.