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.”

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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?

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The airline has a record of the passenger’s full name. Just compare the ticket to the parent’s drivers license.

          • SamboT@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Good lord you mean they would have to ask a second question?

            • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              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.

              • dhork@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                TSA has nothing to do with this. A flight attendant made a bigoted judgement, and the Denver PD took it further.

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                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

        • dmonzel@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          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?

            • stormtrooper@sopuli.xyz
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              1 year ago

              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.

        • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          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.

    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Frog-Brawler@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      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.