A White mother who said she was questioned about human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the company of “blatant racism.”
To add insult to injury, the mom was flying to her brother’s funeral when, upon deboarding the plane plane, they were stopped by cops and questioned under suspicion of human trafficking. Can’t imagine how rough the whole trip was for her.
Honestly, good for them for doing what they can against human trafficking. It’s worth offending a person here and there to save people from that terrible fate. Unfortunately, differing skin tones/ethnicities are probably the easiest indicator of human trafficking to watch for.
Edit: I assume race isn’t the only thing they consider. If it is the only criteria necessary to confront someone, that’s obviously a problem.
Edit 2: I’m sick and my brain isn’t working right. Maybe I am just being stupid – it wouldn’t be the first time.
differing skin tones/ethnicities are probably the laziest indicator of human trafficking to watch for.
FTFY.
This is the same attitude that gets minorities killed all the time, for “looking suspicious” while occupying their skin in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yes, easiest and laziest are basically synonyms in this instance. I assume they have other criteria before confronting people, and if not, that’s obviously problematic.
Edit: Or maybe I’m being stupid. I don’t know, and my head is too foggy to think it through right now.
Don’t be stupid.
There are millions, if not billions of dollars in the human trafficking economy. Continuous reports of rich and powerful people all over the planet participating in it. Disgusting human beings willing to treat children like animals for their own gratification.
And you think these people won’t start hiring adults of the same ethnicity as the children they’re trafficking to move them?
It’s such a reductive argument. “Just question any group of people if the children are a different ethnicity than the adults they’re with! Let’s not look at the kids body language, or the way they interact. Race is clearly the indicator!”
Fucking stupid
Yeah. How much human trafficking is actually going on at airports with a “parent” flying “their” child somewhere?
If some sicko is a billionaire with a private jet and is THAT dedicated to getting a kid to them, they’ll fly them on their private jet. You know, like Epstein.
And if they’re the “usual” human chattel that is treated like cattle, they’re probably being transported in some slower, cheaper method than a plane that (1) costs way more and (2) has a dozen security mechanisms designed to catch you.
This is just racism and people buying into Qanon propaganda.
Yeah, and they should totally be stopping people in turbans to prevent terrorism! Who cares if a few people are offended if it means saving lives, right?
This is a bad take. There are so many mixed race families in the world. It is not okay to start harassing all of them just because they might be doing something wrong. It’s literally just racism no matter how you try to dress it up.
That’s the basis of every argument against free speech, Save the Children is more and more a dogwhistle excuse to harass a group someone doesn’t like. Drag queens, lgbtq folks, adults creating and consuming adult content.
It’s a way to intrude on privacy and free speech in a way that is unconscionable.
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Maybe it’s just me, but I would I think a parent would be glad that someone was looking out for their kid. I mean, how difficult was it to prove when they landed that this was her kid? Wouldn’t a drivers license with the same last name suffice, and then everyone just moves on happily ever after? Did they handcuff her or something?
The problem is that I’m guessing this mom is getting questions and looks every time she goes out with her daughter.
The SW staff could have just as easily pulled the names on their tickets- which you’d have to have ID to get, anyhow- as checked their ID. The cops could have done that as well. Including pulling up her id in the DMV database they have access to. “yup. that’s her.”
The cops could very easily have just pulled the mom’s ID off DMV, looking at the information supplied to buy her ticket. That’ll get them to her on the DMV. If her ID is valid, it won’t offer any more information than is on the DMV, and there’s really no way to prove they’re your kid at all.
One of the reason I keep old photos (and new) of my niece and nephew- especially photos of me with them- is so to show cops when I get them called on me for being a single man doing “mom”-things at the park. Dealing with cops because you don’t fit some karen’s idea of who should be taking kids to a park gets old very fast.
And to be perfectly blunt, “you should just be grateful we care” is incredibly ignorant; and the staffer was probably just following protocol. but the reason they did it was fundamentally rooted in racism.
Why would a 10yo have a driver’s license?
because of car centric infrastructure in the US they need to drive to school /s
The airline has a record of the passenger’s full name. Just compare the ticket to the parent’s drivers license.
Not all parents have the same last name as their children.
Good lord you mean they would have to ask a second question?
Depends on how far it goes. Kids aren’t required to carry an ID to fly domestically. And as a parent I wouldn’t carry their birth certificate everywhere. So if the name on the ticket isn’t enough it would be quite the fucking problem.
As far as the lawsuit, it depends if the tsa was being dicks, if mom was being a dick etc. If it was a quick check and mom lost her shit because she thought it was based on race, or if security blatantly said it and mom lost her shit and it turned into a bigger deal.
TSA has nothing to do with this. A flight attendant made a bigoted judgement, and the Denver PD took it further.
It’s the TSA, of course they were being dicks.
But the airline isn’t responsible for what the TSA does with the report. They’re solely responsible for their employees actions. I doubt the lawsuit will go anywhere against the airline; unless they were being particularly offensive as well
You mean like you already have to do to get past security on the way to the gate, and again at the gate to get on the plane?
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Did YOU read the article?
Mary MacCarthy and her then 10-year-old daughter, both California residents, flew to Denver on Oct. 22, 2021, for a funeral after the sudden death of MacCarthy’s older brother, according to the complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. After landing at the airport, MacCarthy said they were greeted by two armed officers from the Denver Police Department.
Morgan Freeman voice: “Turns out, he never read the article.”
I did read the article. Guess I misunderstood. For that I apologize.
Oh Ok. That happens. No worries
Funny, when I do read the article, it very clearly states the mother and daughter were flying together. Here’s the first two paragraphs. I’ve bolded the parts where it’s clearly stated they were travelling together.
A White mother who said she was questioned about human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the company of “blatant racism.”
Mary MacCarthy and her then 10-year-old daughter, both California residents, flew to Denver on Oct. 22, 2021, for a funeral after the sudden death of MacCarthy’s older brother, according to the complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. After landing at the airport, MacCarthy said they were greeted by two armed officers from the Denver Police Department.
Read the article.
“The…”
That’s definite-ly an article.
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The very same ticket bought by the hypothetical human trafficker? Airports don’t ID kids, so whatever name is on their ticket is just assumed to be theirs, meaning the name on the ticket matching the adult’s ID isn’t a verification of anything.
My kids are biracial, coming up and accusing me of having abducted them because I’m white passing is not looking out for my kids, it is telling them they are Other.
She was glad and decided to show her gratitude by suing.
Nah, parents hate when people look out for their kids. Check out what’s happening in FL… they’re trying to teach kids history in schools and it’s banned as CRT. They’re trying to teach AP Psychology and it’s banned because there’s a chapter about gender non-conformity in the text book.
