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MacCarthy is seeking to change Southwest’s training and policies and has claimed that and airline employee had assumed her daughter Moira, then 10, couldn’t be hers based on their differing skintones.
New Delhi: A white mother in the United States has sued Southwest Airlines—one of the US’s largest airlines—for “blatant racism” after the airline allegedly accused her of trafficking her black daughter. Los Angeles resident Mary MacCarthy filed a law suit against Southwest for “blatant racism”, claiming that an employee of the airline had accused her of “trafficking” her own biracial daughter while the mother-daughter duo were on their way to attend a funeral.
In her lawsuit, MacCarthy is seeking to change Southwest’s training and policies and has claimed that and airline employee had assumed her daughter Moira, then 10, couldn’t be hers based on their differing skintones, the New York Post reported.
According to the report, the mother is also seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory damages for emotional distress, mental anguish and more, along with legal fees. As per the lawsuit, MacCarthy was traveling to her brother’s funeral with her then 10-year-old daughter Moira in October 2021, when a Southwest airline employee at the San Jose airport allegedly made the wrong assumption about the mother-daughter duo.
‘Blatant racism’
A Southwest employee called the Denver Police Department to “report Ms. MacCarthy for suspected child trafficking” while she and Moira where mid-flight from California to Colorado, the lawsuit filed in US District Court in Colorado states.
MacCarthy’s lawyer said the lawsuit seeks Southwest Airlines to reexamine its training and policies, adding that the only basis for only basis for the Southwest employee’s call was “the belief that Ms. MacCarthy’s daughter could not possibly be her daughter because she is a biracial child.”
Following the call, the mother-daughter were whisked off for questioning by police after the plane landed and during the session Moira began to “break down in tears”, the suit stated.
The pair were let go after the ordeal which MacCarthy claims was a display of “blatant racism” on part of the airline and the event caused her daughter “extreme emotional distress.”
“The Southwest employee on the plane reported Plaintiff MacCarthy to the police without any conversation or contact with either Plaintiff which would have raised suspicions in the mind of a reasonable person.”
Hyperaware about being judged
“To this day, when Moira and I are out in public — and especially at airports or on planes — I’m hyperaware that we might be judged and reported for any interaction we have with each other,” MacCarthy said, according to NewsWeek.
“It’s a strange feeling to be on alert about your most basic behaviors with your child, and it’s exhausting. As for Moira, she still clams up and doesn’t want to talk about what happened.”
Revisit training, policies
Mary’s lawyer said the lawsuit aims to hold Southwest accountable and revisit its training and policies, claiming that the airline used “racial profiling” to stop innocent travellers. “Southwest Airlines has attempted to address serious the criminal activity of sex-trafficking through use of a stereotypical, easy formula.”
Responding to the allegations, Southwest Airlines said it does not discuss pending litigation, however, the airline said the company was “disheartened” to learn of the incident.
MaCarthy said at first she merely asked for an apology from Southwest, however, she claimed she never received one, adding that the ordeal made her feel “attacked.”
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