August 9th 2023.
Mary MacCarthy, a white woman, is taking legal action against Southwest Airlines following an incident on October 22nd, 2021. MacCarthy and her biracial daughter had been traveling to Denver for a funeral. Denver police stopped them after a Southwest Airlines employee reported them as suspicious and MacCarthy as a potential human trafficker.
MacCarthy was horrified by the accusation and the legal complaint states that her daughter, identified as Plaintiff M.M., does not speak when the incident is discussed. The legal complaint also claims that the mother and daughter suffered “extreme emotional distress.”
In response to the incident, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said, “We were disheartened to learn of this mother’s account when traveling with her daughter.”
MacCarthy’s attorney believes the mother and daughter were the victims of racial profiling. The lawsuit states that this is “the type of situation that mixed‐race families and families of color face all too frequently while traveling.”
Keturah Johnson, international vice president for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, believes that more training is needed to appropriately spot signs of trafficking. Johnson said, “Training is in place for more than a hundred-thousand flight attendants, and I think it’s important to know that all of us when we travel, can also be eyes in the skies.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Blue Lightening Initiative is designed to train personnel in aviation to spot potential traffickers and human trafficking victims. The initiative is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign which aims to teach the public, law enforcement and others how to recognize the signs of trafficking.
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