>>> 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
