"We had to get out of the USA": Melvin McNair helped hijack a plane to escape racism in 1972. He still can't come home. On July 31, 1972, Melvin McNair and four others forced a Delta Airlines flight bound for Miami from Detroit, to divert to Algeria after demanding $1 million from the U.S. government. They saw the hijacking as a surefire way to escape American racial violence, police brutality and government repression. They would also be able to meet up with members of the international chapter of Black Panther Party in Algeria. But they found that the Black Panthers, and life on the run, was not what they imagined. After Algeria, they were arrested, imprisoned and exiled. They ended up on the FBI’s fugitive list. Following prison in France, McNair and his family moved to Caen where he devoted his life to community organization, mentorship and activism. However, the FBI still has an indictment against him despite his rehabilitation. "I'm at peace with what I did," said McNair. He doesn't regret the hijacking but he wouldn't do it again. "Sometimes when I look back on it now I think...maybe things would have worked out differently," he said.