>>> A mother is suing southwest airlines for racial discrimination.
She saws she was accused of human trafficking when flying with her biracial child.
Mary Mccarthy is white.
She traveled from California to Denver with her daughter, who is biracial, to attend her
brother's funeral in October of 2021.
>> This is according to a new lawsuit filed this week.
Here's what the suit alleges.
Quote, while they were in the air a employee called the Denver police department to report
miss Mccarthy for suspected child trafficking for no reason other than the different color
of her daughter's skin from her own.
According to this lawsuit, as Mccarthy and her daughter were walking on the jet bridge,
this is video of that, by the way, they were confronted by Denver police officers after
significant questioning Mccarthy was eventually allowed to leave by the officers.
Quote, and this is in the lawsuit, but not before this display of blatant racism by southwest
airlines caused miss
[8:24:51 AM]
southwest airlines caused miss Mccarthy and her daughter extreme and emotional distress.
I appreciate her being with us.
I want to show you first though part of this recorded interaction that she had when they
got off the plane with the southwest official and Denver police officers.
Here it is.
>> The flight attendants were concerned about the behavior when you boarded the aircraft.
That's all we're following up on.
We are not suspecting anything.
>> That's all we need to know.
I mean, you guys are good.
I do apologize.
>> It's not because I have a daughter who has -- in her life.
>> I'm not trying to -- by any stretch of the means.
>> This isn't okay.
>> Southwest said they were disheartened by her account of the events adding, we are conducting
a review of the situation internally.
Our employees undergo robust training on human trafficking.
We did, of course, reach out to a southwest spokesperson again given this litigation they
had
[8:25:52 AM]
given this litigation they had no comment.
Mary Mccarthy, the mother, joins us now.
Good morning, appreciate you being with us.
Why did you file suit?
What do you want?
>> When I initially spoke out about this in October of 2021, the reason I went public
with it, you know, takes a certain risk, you know, in the meantime my daughter and I, our
names have been dragged through the mud.
It was because this is an opportunity for me to speak out against racial profiling.
If one less family, one less child can go through an experience with the airlines and
life and not be racially profiled, it's worth speaking out.
It's about the crux of the matter, which is in "20/20" one, now 2023, no corporation should
be able to get away with this behavior.
>> I read through the lawsuit.
You are seeking unspecified damages and want an apology from the airline and you want mandatory
training to change.
What's the ultimate goal here?
What do you hope, at the end of
[8:26:53 AM]
What do you hope, at the end of this, changes for other people?
>> So, I hear, you know, on a regular basis from other parents who go through this, families
like mine that are mixed race, for a number of reasons, whether it's their biological
children look a little bit different in terms of skin color, lots of families have adopted
children, and this is happening regularly, more often to fathers than to mothers, where
they are sometimes pulled off of flights or aggressively questioned.
Sometimes even separated and detained, the parents and the children.
Simply due to largely a difference in skin color.
>> This is racial profiling.
It has no place in the united States of today and that's what I'm speaking out against.
The airlines are teaching their staffer to look out for human trafficking, child trafficking
on airlines, but clearly that training is failing if they are not, as part of that training,
warning them to look out for
[8:27:55 AM]
warning them to look out for their own behavior in racial profiling.
By the way, child trafficking and human trafficking is not an epidemic on commercial flights.
That's, you know, like a moral panic.
Trafficking isn't something we have to worry about on commercial flights.
Focus on reducing racism more on these boogeyman type oof moral panics they got all worried
about.
>> I read a statistic.
You're correct, most human trafficking doesn't happen on airlines.
It was pointed in, in a study, around 38%.
I want to read what the international air transportation association said in terms of
their guidelines for combatting human trafficking.
Unique position to notify law enforcement because they travel with passengers sometimes
many hours, can spot small signals and behaviors, but they also go on to say that, you know,
you need to defer to another person, not to speak for them.
My question to you is, do you think it could have been an honest mistake by one person?
>> Honest mistakes happen.
[8:28:56 AM]
>> Honest mistakes happen.
I am sympathetic to anyone doing their job.
I am not only a mother to biracial child, but a single mother.
I am careful that I take documentation.
I carry her birth certificate.
I am prepared to show my I.D.
And her birth certificate at TSA.
They have the right to ask me any questions.
They can ask me questions about race because, frankly, that's a physical difference, a reality.
There is a difference between TSA doing the screen that they are -- that they are doing
as part of their job and a flight attendant not even taking the time to ask me a question,
find out if we have the same last name.
The basic due diligence before they call the police.
You can see in the body-cam footage that they lie about numerous things.
The southwest attendants is heard on the body-cam footage repeatedly lying about why I was traveling,
saying I lied about the fact that I was traveling to a funeral.
Like that's appalling behavior towards one of your customers on any level.
[8:29:57 AM]
any level.
And I feel like the public should know that this is a -- how they are treating and talking
about their customers and I want to build awareness around all of that.
>> As I understand, you said you travel with the birth certificate of your daughter and
you were not even asked to present that as proof.
Just before we go, your daughter's 12 now.
We hear her tears in that video.
How is she today?
>> Fortunately, she is doing great.
She is a blossoming 12-year-old, going into seventh grade.
When it comes to this incident, she clams up and doesn't want to talk about it.
I did what any responsible mom would do.
I made sure she got a therapist to talk about this.
It was also the day we were traveling to my brother's funeral, so she could deal with
the grief of that.
She knows I am speaking to the media.
She supports that.
She is doing things a 12-year-old girl is supposed to do.
And, hopefully, moving forward,
[8:30:57 AM]
And, hopefully, moving forward, less and less for kids like her.
Children of color have enough challenges that their day-to-day life.
Let's not add to it.
>> We appreciate you sharing