Southwest Airlines is being accused of and sued for racial discrimination. Mary MacCarthy, a white mother, filed a lawsuit against the airline after being accused of trafficking her 10-year-old biracial daughter, whom she was traveling with.
The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Colorado on August 3, 2023. The mother-daughter duo was traveling on a flight from San Jose to Denver in October 2021. They were traveling to Colorado to attend the funeral of MacCarthy's brother, who had recently died.
MacCarthy says that when they arrived at the Denver International Airport, she and her daughter were met at the gate by police officers. "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 reads.
"After significant questioning, during which Ms. MacCarthy's daughter began to break down in tears, Ms. MacCarthy was eventually allowed to leave by the officers, but not before this display of blatant racism by Southwest Airlines caused Ms. MacCarthy and her daughter extreme emotional distress," it continued. Police cam footage captured the entire encounter.
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"Once they said, 'We're here because you were reported for suspicious behavior,' an alarm bell went off in my head because I'm a mother of a biracial child," MacCarthy explained. "I'm aware of racial profiling. I'm aware that the word 'suspicious' is sometimes code for race. That's when I kind of switched into being, you know, this grieving mother to a mother who's there to protect her child and herself from these accusations."
The police bodycam footage obtained shows a Southwest employee telling police that things seemed suspicious. Once MacCarthy and her daughter stepped off the flight, they were pulled to the side by the police for questioning.
MacCarthy noted that Southwest has not issued a formal apology. But to her, that wouldn't even be enough. She hopes that the lawsuit will encourage the airline to take accountability for the actions of its employees.
She wants there to be a change to how flight attendants are trained on human trafficking, noting that there have been many incidents where parents of biracial children have been accused of trafficking. This is her way of taking action.
MacCarthy went on to share that she is doing this on behalf of other parents who have faced similar situations, but may not be able to take legal action. "If I can use my voice to make life a little bit easier for parents of color or children of color, even if it makes one person's life easier, I'm going to do it."
MacCarthy's daughter will not talk about the incident to this day. "It was probably like the worst day of her life because of what was going on with my brother's death. It's not something that she in any way wants to revisit."
