On September 15th, 2023, American singer-songwriter David Ryan Harris was accused by American Airlines of trafficking his own children. A flight attendant proposed that his children weren’t his own, claiming that one of Harris’s kids was unresponsive when asked his name.
According to CBS News, Harris said in a video posted on his Instagram account, “A flight attendant had called ahead with some sort of concern that perhaps my mixed children weren’t my children… We are met, embarrassingly so, by this AA employee and police officers. They questioned my kids.”
Harris believes the accusation was about his race since this was not the first time something like this happened. In 2020, an American Airlines flight attendant accused an African American social service worker that was traveling with a white baby of kidnapping. The child was snatched from her arms and an investigation was begun. She was detained for an hour before re-boarding the plane.
Fox Carolina shared that American Airlines responded to a request for more information on their human trafficking policies with the following statement: “The safety and security of our customers and team members are our top priorities. We strive to create a positive, welcoming environment for everyone who travels with us and apologize for any misunderstanding that may have occurred. A member of our team has reached out to the customer to learn more about their experience and address their concerns.”
The issue was only brought to American Airlines’ attention after Harris’s social media post. Harris, who is a singer-songwriter famous for his first album ‘David Ryan Harris’, has 79.5K followers on Instagram.
It took a week for the airline to communicate with Harris after the incident. He was offered an apology along with 10,000 frequent flyer miles.
According to Harris’s recent Instagram post, he has turned down multiple interview requests and offers of legal representation as he just wants society to “do better.” CBS also states that Harris said, “If this had been a white dad/mom with 2 little black kids, they would probably been offered an upgrade, not an interrogation.”
