2 Afghans Sue Theater Over Ejection

Two Afghan American college students filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday alleging they were wrongfully ejected from an AMC theater in Orange because they looked suspicious and were speaking a foreign language.

Mohammad Sayed and Omar Zazia, 21-year-old students at Cal State Fullerton, said they were humiliated and angered after they and two Afghan American friends were escorted from the theater May 4 amid the laughter and stares from a packed house at the Block at Orange.

“It was the most degrading night of my life,” Sayed said.

The men and their friends had settled in for the 11:35 p.m. showing of “Deuces Wild” and were talking in their native Pashto when they noticed a security guard staring at them, according to the lawsuit they filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The guard left and returned with an usher, who asked to see their tickets. When one of the men asked why other partons weren’t being checked, they were told to leave.

Sayed and Zazia said they tried to talk to two managers, who, they said, wouldn’t explain their ejection.

The security guard, an employee of Culver City-based Totally Secured Inc., said “something to the effect of ‘You look suspicious and you were speaking in a foreign tongue,’ ” according to the suit.

Several Orange police officers escorted them from the theater, Sayed and Zazia said. When they tried to explain what happened, one officer said “something to the effect of ‘Now you are annoying me. Get out of my Block,’ ” the suit alleges.

The officer then threatened to arrest the pair if they returned that night, the men said.

“We’re looking into our involvement in this incident,” said Sgt. Dave Hill, a spokesman for the Orange Police Department, which is not a defendant in the suit. “We will take what action is appropriate, if any.”

A representative of AMC Entertainment Inc., the Kansas City, Mo.-based owner of the theater chain, said he had not seen the suit and couldn’t comment on the alleged incident.

“However, AMC is in the business of providing the best possible moviegoing experience for all of our valued customers and is proud that our guests represent a broad spectrum of people of all races, ages and sexes,” said a written statement from Richard J. King, senior vice president for corporate communications.

A spokesman for Totally Secured could not be reached for comment.

“We bring this lawsuit because, as a nation, we long ago settled the issue of discrimination in public accommodations,” said Ben Wizner, an attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, which is representing Sayed and Zazia along with a private Orange County law firm. “These victories were hard-won. We can’t let the principle of equality under the law be lightly discarded in times of trouble.”

Sayed contacted the ACLU through a hotline the organization set up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks led to a nationwide backlash against people who appeared to be Arab.

Wizner said the hotline has received hundreds of complaints, but that Thursday’s suit was only the second the organization has filed since Sept. 11.

In June, the Los Angeles ACLU joined other branches in suing four airlines in federal court, alleging they barred five passengers from flights because of racial discrimination.

The plaintiffs, two of whom are of Arab descent, were ordered off planes or prevented from boarding after clearing security at airports in the months after Sept. 11. The cases are pending.

“No one should be judged by the color of their skin or the way they talk,” said Zazia, the son of an Afghan army general whose family fled their native country in 1990. “My version of the American dream was shattered that night.”

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and to force AMC to “take all necessary steps” to prevent discriminatory practices.