For years, Cindy McCain has been vocal in the fight against human trafficking. And on a radio show this week in her home state, Arizona, she shared a personal anecdote to show how people can help protect victims.
Published : 09 Feb 2019, 02:02 AM
McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that she was recently at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix when she saw a scenario that raised a red flag in her mind.
“I spotted — it looked odd — it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had,” McCain said in an interview Monday. “Something didn’t click with me. I tell people to trust your gut. I went over to the police and told them what I thought. They went over and questioned her and, by God, she was trafficking that kid.”
But by midweek, the Phoenix Police Department said no trafficking had occurred — and McCain had apologised.
In a statement Thursday, a police spokesman said officers assigned to the airport checked on a child at the request of McCain on Jan. 30, but found that “there was no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment.”
On Twitter, McCain commended the police for their diligence. “I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter distracts from ‘if you see something, say something,'” she said.
It was unclear what other factors might have led McCain to believe she was witnessing a human trafficking situation. Police declined to elaborate, and McCain could not be reached for an interview.
In a statement Thursday, the McCain Institute for International Leadership, a Washington-based think tank that was inspired by the McCain family and for which McCain serves on the human trafficking advisory council, said: “When Cindy reported what she thought was an incident of trafficking at the airport she was only thinking about the possible ramifications of a criminal act.”
The institute added: “Her hyper sensitivity to looking for trafficking in this instance was not correct, but it should in no way distract from the broader importance that we all have a responsibility to be aware of this kind of crime.”
But the mistake started a conversation about racial profiling and implicit biases, turning the familiar adage into a question: If you see something, should you say something?
In their statement, Phoenix police encouraged anyone visiting the airport to report suspicious activity to authorities or airport employees. “This helps everybody remain vigilant and promotes safety and security,” the statement said.
Elaine Andino, a spokeswoman for United Against Human Trafficking, which works with Houston-area groups to end human trafficking, said that echoed what she had heard from authorities.
“We have been told repeatedly, we would rather people call and report human trafficking incidents and be wrong 100 times on the off chance that they are right one time,” she said in an interview Thursday.
She commended McCain for being on the lookout at an airport, because such places are a common hub for trafficking.
McCain, who is on the Arizona governor’s council on human trafficking, referred in her radio interview to a man who had supposedly bought the child.
She offered few other details about the case. The ethnicities of the woman and the child were not specified.
McCain, who is white, is herself the mother of a child of a different race. She and her husband adopted one of their daughters, Bridget, who was born in Bangladesh, as a baby.
“Our implicit biases are processed in the unconscious part of our mind,” Thompson, who conducts training on implicit bias, said in a phone interview. “So a lot of times you find that you have implicit biases that don’t align with your lived experience.”
When you see something that makes you suspicious, Thompson said, it is important to ask yourself why you feel uncomfortable. Questions like: Is it because of a person’s race? What biases do I have? What other information do I need to make a decision?
“You have to have that moment of self-reflection,” she said. “Really ask yourself: ‘Why am I feeling this way?'”
If other evidence supports a possible crime, she added, then it may be appropriate to intervene. “It’s really just about taking that time to reflect on how your biases might be showing up in your actions and allowing yourself to make more conscious decisions,” she said.
© 2019 New York Times News Service