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submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

One of the nation's biggest airlines has been called into the spotlight after a Black father was accused of trafficking his own children on a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles earlier in September.

David Ryan Harris, a musician who has collaborated with the likes of John Mayer, Carlos Santana and the Dave Matthews Band, recently took to social media to tell his story, and ask for people to "do better" after the incident rattled his family.

Harris says that he was aboard an American Airlines flight two weeks ago, heading to LAX with his two biracial sons, Truman and Hendrix. As they were de-boarding the plane, they found four police officers waiting for them at the gate.

"Apparently, a flight attendant had called ahead with some sort of concern that perhaps my mixed children weren't my children," Harris said in a video posted on his social media accounts. "We are met, embarrassingly so, by this AA employee and police officers. They questioned my kids."

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[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 121 points 9 months ago

This is what you get when right-wingers hype child trafficking bullshit as culture war. Child trafficking is real and terrible. But it looks nothing like what the internet tells them it is. They see it everywhere because they have distorted ideas about what it is. See The Sound of Freedom

[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 40 points 9 months ago

It's all intentional too. They want to muddy the waters, and make words like "grooming" meaningless. And they've largely succeeded.

[-] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

It's fucking sad. When liberals get shit wrong, it's embarrassing. You worry about it delegitimizing real situations. You question what led to where you are now. It's a big deal.

Conservatives just double or triple down. Fuck the real victims. Fuck the falsely accused. Fuck getting better. Fuck shame.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 6 points 9 months ago

Also when could conservatives get things wrong, it's usually on purpose.

[-] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

As the saying goes.

The cruelty is the point.

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

See The Sound of Freedom

I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request.

Means "no".

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 9 months ago

See as in example, not endorse. I now realize my poor choice of words.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 9 months ago

Even if they weren't his children, that still doesn't mean they're being trafficked. What kind of mental gymnastics does someone have to do to reach that conclusion? All because their skin color didn't match? In 2023?? Man fuck American Airlines! I will never fly with them anymore. Not that they were good to begin with.

[-] thepianistfroggollum@lemmynsfw.com 33 points 9 months ago

If you're boycotting airlines for being shitty, you should probably just drive.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 15 points 9 months ago

We need more trains. Trains are a solution.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

I'm not the person you spoke to, but I do. If it's less than two days of driving, I will do that rather than put up with flying.

[-] kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Username does not check out.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

You can't drive over the ocean, silly.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 4 points 9 months ago

Look at fancy pants over here, too good to swim alongside the rest of the squid.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Have you ever met those guys? Bunch of assholes.

[-] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 44 points 9 months ago

Do flight attendants have, like, a duty to report? Do they get training on how to spot human trafficking? Is this just some twat waffle trying to be the hero in their own story?

I'm getting off on the next stop.

[-] MNByChoice@midwest.social 45 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yes, American Airlines employees have human trafficking spotting training.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/about-us/combating-human-trafficking.jsp?anchorEvent=false&from=footer

I cannot comment if it is any good.

Edit: Yes, I can. It is clearly lacking.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

How common is human trafficking on commercial domestic flights in the first place? Seems like it would be one of the worst travel options for traffickers, for a lot of reasons.

[-] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Not uncommon.

[-] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago

You can go all the way across the country in a few hours.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

But in the process you’ve alerted authorities in advance of where you'll be traveling and with whom—and you’re disarmed, so you can be easily apprehended and your victims can escape without fear of violence. Plus you and your victims are confined for hours in close quarters with dozens of other people who have plenty of time to notice any erratic behavior.

[-] XbSuper@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Disarmed lol. It is comically easy to sneak a gun past the TSA. I don't remember the specific numbers, but there was a test done, and something like 85% of the trials made it through with the weapon.

Feel free to look it up if you're interested.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What matters in this case isn’t so much the fact of being unarmed, as it is the behavior of the victims and law enforcement who might feel empowered to act based on the belief that the trafficker is unarmed.

Traffickers presumably don’t actually want to end up in a shootout—they just want the perceived possibility to serve as a deterrent.

[-] Synnr@sopuli.xyz 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Tons of people are shit-scared of flying and are visibly anxious. Tons of people drug themselves with benzos before flying.

But regardless of those two points, when the victim is at the point where they would be in an airplane with their pimp, controller, whatever you want to call them, they're likely going to be well under their thumb, or happy thinking about that wonderful American business opportunity as a secretary or whatever they think is on the other side of the flight.

Sometimes it doesn't play out like that, but often it does.

Many times they don't use commercial air flights like you suggest, they drive. That's why there are apps that allow you to take a 360° view of your hotel/motel/hostel so they can match them up with known sexual abuse videos.

[-] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

This is good info. Thank you!

[-] Droptherock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 9 months ago

Yes, I work for a private jet company and the FAA has mandatory training we have to take and the gist of it is, if you see something suspicious; report it. It usually doesn’t end up like this, they usually just surveil the target to get more info from what I understand.

[-] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Thanks! I have my own world view and it's lovely to know someone else can fuck up my perspective and broaden it!

I appreciate ya!

[-] Synnr@sopuli.xyz 3 points 9 months ago

I'm getting off on the next stop.

Because of the duty to report?

[-] ech@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

No, they're just skiplagging.

[-] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Sorry, I could a been more clear. I don't think the flight attendant has any idea what trafficking looks like and was merely looking to become a hero in someone's story. And, I'm kinda over people fucking up good people's days.

[-] Synnr@sopuli.xyz 3 points 9 months ago

It's okay, I was just making a joke.

[-] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Well, shit. Now, I've got egg on my face.

Can we still do r/whoosh? 😁

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 41 points 9 months ago

Good work Johnson! Now sprinkle some crack on him and let's go.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Sad to see this happen to this black father. Racism likely played a role.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 26 points 9 months ago

Good candidate for understatement of the year.

[-] doubletwist@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Gee, you think?

[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Their new motto:

If you see something… be racist.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

American ~~Airlines~~ History X

[-] spider@lemmy.nz 22 points 9 months ago
[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 months ago

lately

You're kidding, right?

[-] ApexHunter@lemmy.ml 19 points 9 months ago

Of course it was American Airlines. Whenever you read a story about an airline doing something terrible to a passenger, odds are it will be them. I stopped flying on them a decade ago after a bad experience with power tripping flight crew, and every time I see a story like this I continue to not regret that decision.

[-] Desistance@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Sue them for making false reports. They'll stop eventually.

[-] iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

Well wait.. was the musician r Kelly?

this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
478 points (98.6% liked)

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