San Francisco, CA – The African-American civil rights organization, ColorofChange.org, and the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP joined Deshon Marman’s family Wednesday morning to deliver nearly 40,000 ColorOfChange.org petition signatures to the US Airways ticket counter at San Francisco International Airport.

Donna Doyle, Marman’s mother, said, “I thank the public for all the support you’ve shown Deshon and my family. We’re here to hold US Airways accountable for their wrongdoings in how they treated my son. US Airways needs to give an apology that’s long overdue.”

Marman was taken off of a US Airways flight, arrested, and jailed in June after airline staff confronted him about his sagging pants. Marman, a 20 year-old student at the University of New Mexico, had returned to his native California for a friend’s funeral. Marman said he was neither told he was under arrest nor read his rights. He was arrested on suspicion of a felony count of battery of a police officer and misdemeanour counts of resisting arrest and trespassing — charges that were not pursued, because the local District Attorney’s office determined that criminal charges weren’t warranted.

“We are telling US Airways that discrimination won’t fly,” said Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorofChange.org. “However you feel about sagging pants, the airline’s response to Deshon and his clothing were inappropriate. Our members believe that targeting and criminalizing a young Black man because of his appearance is an unacceptable business practice. Sadly, US Airways has continued to defend its actions.”

US Airways has refused to respond to the charges of discrimination from Deshon’s family and the San Francisco NAACP, who have joined ColorOfChange.org in asking for an apology.

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With more than 750,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest African-American online political organization.