this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
196 points (98.5% liked)

United States | News & Politics

7192 readers
1 users here now

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

This is the sort of real-world harm that conspiracy bullshit creates. Are children trafficked in this world? Yes. Is it likely that you're seeing that happen in your ordinary life? Not very. But now all these morons think they have to fulfill a role in some crusade and it's completely blown past reality.

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] InvertedParallax@lemm.ee 56 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

My wife has this shit happen every time she travels with our daughter.

We just got used to it, I wrote a letter,.we have pictures, we taught her to say who her mother is.

Was funny, now it's just weird.

Nobody ever suspects me of anything, which is crazy because I'm me.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


A white mother who was suspected of trafficking her biracial daughter in October 2021 by Southwest Airlines employees has filed a racial discrimination suit against the company.

Mary MacCarthy was traveling to Denver from Los Angeles with her 10-year-old daughter to attend her brother's funeral, she told NBC News nearly two years ago.

Upon landing in Denver, MacCarthy and her daughter were confronted by police officers because a flight attendant suspected her of potential human trafficking.

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the District Court of Colorado accused Southwest Airlines of racial discrimination.

David Lane, the attorney representing MacCarthy, said that the suit is designed to bring accountability and to have the airline re-examine its own training.

According to a police report, the flight attendant said she flagged the family as suspicious because they were the last to board the plane and asked other passengers to change seats so they could sit together.


I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Designate6361@lemmy.letthewookiee.win 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)

asked other passengers to change seats so they could sit together.

As someone who worked in aviation this happens all the time cause of the crappy booking systems airlines use. If this was a red flag then holy shit we are in trouble.

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago

Haha I made some code in that thing!

It's built by a company called Sabre

[–] demlet@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 13 points 2 years ago

As a prospective grandfather of mixed race grandchildren, this sort of thing terrifies me. Bad enough being male and being thought of as a pedophile, but adding in human trafficking?

[–] whiskeypickle@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I have a niece and nephew who are half Chinese. It just now occurred to me how racist assholes could make this a problem for me if I ever were in such a situation!

[–] MrMonkey@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Flight attendants are required to report anything they find suspicious as part of anti human trafficking efforts.

They're not enforcers, just reporters.

[–] whiskeypickle@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

FTA:

"The officers began questioning Ms. MacCarthy and made it clear that they were given the racially charged information that Ms. MacCarthy’s daughter was possibly being trafficked by her simply because Ms. MacCarthy is White and her daughter is Black," the lawsuit said.

The crux of the alleged civil rights violation is that the report was based purely on racial profiling and nothing else, which the police made clear when they interviewed the alleged victims. so, it’s not a matter of reporting vs enforcement; it’s a matter of the basis of the report itself, which MacCarthy alleges was, as the police informed her, was in violation of her (and her daughter’s) civil rights.

[–] BA834024112@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 years ago

Did you read the article?

According to a police report, the flight attendant said she flagged the family as suspicious because they were the last to board the plane and asked other passengers to change seats so they could sit together.

Neither of those behaviors are suspicious

[–] RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

Finding a mixed race parent and child suspicious is the entire problem here.