I used to read Wonkette so much during the 2008 election, and I remember their obsessions with all of the rumors about Cindy McCain. Cindy McCain, now the widow of the late John McCain, has been a wealthy heiress all her life. The bulk of the McCains’ wealth was always from Cindy’s family. Cindy has also had some dependency issues, if I remember correctly. She’s also worked with foreign adoption programs for years, and she has a daughter, Bridget, whom she adopted from Bangladesh. Keep all of that in mind when you read this:
Cindy McCain was heard in a radio interview on KTAR Mac & Gaydos claiming she stopped a human trafficking incident at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, but Arizona’s Family has debunked that claim.
“I came in from a trip I’d been on and I spotted—it looked odd—it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had, and something didn’t click with me,” McCain said in the radio interview. “I went over to the police and told them what I saw, and they went over and questioned her, and, by God, she was trafficking that kid.”
McCain went on to say that she discovered the woman was waiting for the man who bought the child to arrive from his flight.
Phoenix police said Wednesday that while officers did respond to the Jan. 30 call, at McCain’s request, they were able to determine “there was no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment.”
Cindy McCain called the cops on a woman and a child because they appeared to be two different ethnicities. Cindy McCain, a white woman with a Bangladeshi daughter, CALLED THE COPS on a mother and child for merely existing, then fantasized some version of events where she had been proven right. WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?
Cindy later tweeted this:
At Phoenix Sky Harbor, I reported an incident that I thought was trafficking. I commend the police officers for their diligence. I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter distracts from “if you see something, say something”
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) February 7, 2019
She’s not apologizing to the mother and child for daring to not both be white. She’s not apologizing for being a Permit Patty/BBQ Becky who calls the police on people of color for merely existing. She’s apologizing to all of the white people who want to call the cops on every person of color they encounter and might feel less inclined to do so now. My God.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
The whole story sounds screwy. Not sure what to believe.
I suppose you could believe the official police statement. And her retraction. And that she’s a racist tw*t
Seems pretty clear cut she is a racist bitch.
I’m going to go with the police saying there was no criminal issue and her retraction.
+1 to @Dee @CairinaCat and @whatWHAT? or +3. My first thought was ick. McCain’s daughter from his first marriage seems pretty great.
Yup. Police denied story officially and she backtracked. Pretty sure I know what to believe!
I’m with Dee.
seems pretty clear cut to me.
racist white lady makes assumption about a child/guardian, calls cops, lies to cover her racist assumption, gets called out by cops and rest of world.
Wonder if McCain was a Democrat – would it be that clear cut? Cindy has worked to stop human trafficking for years. While I hate her politics, I think it’s possible she thought the child might be in danger. Just not willing to completely trash her at this point.
@philly gal. McCain lied. She said the woman WAS trafficking the child and was waiting for her accomplice. She said this On a radio program. She got called out for lying. What’s so hard to understand?
“Wonder if McCain was a Democrat – would it be that clear cut?”
yes. it would be.
just like the Dem governor of VA. and his other two fellow racist dems.
why did you have to make this a party thing? D and R are both capable of being racist.
yes, she legit thought the child was in danger. I’m not arguing that. However, HER OWN WORDS would indicate that it was because the two were different ethnicities. that is the ONLY criteria she mentioned. so, yeah…RACIST.
@PhillyGal, I’d be willing to give her a partial pass if she hadn’t lied about what happened after the police looked into it. I get it; what she did may have been a little racist, but I also understand that if you’re really involved in ending human trafficking, it can be easy to see that everywhere.
I’ve had to call the police/CPS before just to ensure a situation was safe when I thought it probably was (not racially based, just part of my job and being a mandatory reporter). I get the decision that it’s better to be safe than to ignore something and find out that someone got hurt because of it. I’m far more willing to give her a pass on this as opposed to calling the police on a child selling water/a person sleeping in a common room/people bbqing, since all of those are situations where you’re basically calling because someone is annoying you vs. calling because you think there’s a chance there’s a problem.
Where it tips over is the doubling down though. You saw something; you said something, and now that you know you were wrong, why not either not bring it up or acknowledge that you did this, this is why, and you’re glad you were wrong and hope the family wasn’t terribly inconvenienced. Acknowledge you were wrong and move on; don’t say that it turns out you were right. People are crazy enough on the subject of human trafficking (which is a real problem, but middle class white ladies like me aren’t going to be abducted from a Target parking lot, so please stop sharing that Facebook post), without saying you saw human trafficking because that’s a weird lie.
I am actually surprised that the cops would have told her one way or the other what the outcome was. I would have thought it would be more like “thank you ma’am, we’ll look into it” and that’s the end. I have called the police on people I believe to be committing crimes and the police have not once told me what the outcome was (either “yep, you were right” or “no, you were wrong but thanks for being concerned”).
She Brian William’d herself.
brwwwhahahahahahahah!!
I call White savior on this one. I have a giant radar as I was “taken in by a white family” and after 5yrs told that my being black was reason for no official adoption. I see white savior everywhere like the predators they are!
Are you serious? I’m so sorry that happened to you! Did you move out? Are you okay?
@ferngully. Thanks. I was a disoriented emancipated minor, and left the country to drug and numb out. I got sober now 25yrs, but never heard the term “white savior” till this year on the internet. It’s unlocked so much for me. I have no contact w that family. As a single mom, I just am so grateful for people who get me. Mostly mixed POC who haves also lived predatory white savior stuff. It’s a journey.
from the woman whose own child is of a different ethnicity. and then she f*cking LIED to cover her butt!
I hope someone calls the cops on her the next time she’s out with her daughter.
Airport Annie.
Are you saying her daughter is not adopted but the result of an affair?
No. I don’t think that’s what the poster is saying. But she is adopted from Bangladesh.
uh, no. not sure how you got that from my post, but that’s not what I meant.
Bit of a leap there Dorothy
They meant lied about the airport incident….not lying about her daughter. Took a huge leap there.
I assumed Dorothy was referencing the rumors from the 2000 campaign. The Bush campaign conducted a phony poll in SC. They called registered republicans and asked something along the lines of, “Would you vote for John McCain if you knew he’d fathered an illegitimate black child?” As the campaign intended, people put the poll question together with McCain’s Bangladeshi child. The rumor started was she was actually his illegitimate child from an affair with a African American woman. It helped torpedo McCain in SC. Amazing what can happen when people are racist and gullible.
Edit to fix campaign date. I blame the flu.
How did you arrive to that conclusion? I know that was an ugly rumor about McCain, but nothing in that post suggests this. The blogger is stating that McCain herself is a different ethnicity from her own (adopted) daughter, so the irony is rich with this one.
Lol I guess I read it wrong. I was hoping for some long lost gossip.
“from the woman whose own child is of a different ethnicity. and then she f*cking LIED to cover her butt!”
She was doing her “good work” at an orphanage and adopted a Bangladeshi girl. I have mixed feeling re this from personal experience.
YES! Her OWN CHILD is a different ethnicity than she is – this is beyond gross to me.
DeeDee – Agree that the lying was horrid. I’m just saying that she might have thought there was an issue, and then lied to save face (again which was wrong). She adopted a child of a different race, who I have heard her talk about lovingly. So I won’t jump to the conclusion she’s racist.
@ philygirl. I still think one can marry or adopt a person of another ethnicity and still be racist. But What she did crosses the boundaries of racism. She just libeled this lady and didn’t even have the courage to apologize or acknowledge that. Instead she gave some lame apology about people being afraid to speak up now because of her own misdeeds. There is just no room for doubt in that she went from bad to worse to worst. She’s a disgrace.
Perhaps in her mind a white mother and non-white child is commendable but the other way around is suspicious? (eyeroll)
Bingo!
She also said something seemed off. Wonder what she meant. As a Mom, I can understand that, and if she would elaborate it might help her case. In terms of party, I am now hearing Democrats not wanting both of the Democrats in line to succeed the governor to quit because the number three guy is a Republican.
Oh who cares? Not the issue here. Both parties can be racist. You’ve said repeatedly that you don’t think she’s a racist. Fine. But perfectly good people can carry biases around. She was biased and she was proven wrong.
I don’t know if Cindy is racist or not,I hope not.I think she should have not told this story on the radio to begin with,and should never have lied or back tracked the way she did,this to me is what shows lack of character and or racist thinking.
I live in northern Ohio,and we are CONSTANTLY told on the news to report anything that appears odd,that our state is actually like number 3 or 4 in the nation for human trafficking.I can only think that people are seeing and hearing about human trafficking more and more than ever.
It would be very difficult to decide what/when/who to report if you interpret something to be off.
Younger girl +older man;black child+white mother or vice versa.People are having children with people of other ethnicities,adopting children of different ethnicities,people of different ages and ethnicity date,marry,all of these things are great,so when do you decide to report something based upon what you see?
If an African American child is crying and pulling away from a white/Indian/Asian mother or father should a stranger interpret the situation as a fussy child who needs a nap,or a child who is with someone against their will?If a WOC is with an older white man and is acting weird,is she his daughter or wife and angry or sick or is she in danger? I guess you observe and proceed to do what you feel is right,it’s a slippery slope,and Cindy should have done what she thought best, but she was incorrect in that situation so she should not have told this story publicly.
I hope that makes some sort of sense,I’m not sticking up for Cindy just saying it’s a sad thing when human trafficking is real,but of course so is racism.
As a mother you don’t have any extra unique insight into anything regarding a complete stranger. Clearly, as this case shows.
They are…DEPLORABLE!!!!
it really is the perfect word for them isn’t it?
Put the deplorables in the basket.
Is dependency issues a fancy term for alcoholic?
I believe it was pills. not sure if it was like, Valium or more like Oxy/Vicodin, but she had a pill addiction.
It was opioids, and she got caught stealing them from a clinic.
Dayum, Darla, I didn’t know that!
Oh yeah! She would have served quite a prison sentence if she weren’t a rich white lady
@ darla. Iirc, she blamed the theft on someone else, no?
I remember reading somewhere maybe a book about McCains presidential campaigns that he was famous for screaming and berating Cindy in front of others.
She was hooked on pain killers.
This ^
So, first of all, she went on tv and completely lied about the outcome. That part makes me suspect she is back on the pills again. I wonder if she ever really got off of them.
The first part of this story, does not require any addiction, that is just as you say, BBQ Becky at it again! No surprise at all here. I bet the child was white and the mother…not. And she could not squeeze her tiny little mind around that.
EXACTLY. White lady with child of color = ok, but the other way around “doesn’t click” for her.
“If you see something, say something” my ass. That’s our excuse now?
Oh but you can’t say anything bad about the McCains’! Remember, we already white washed them. They’ve been annotated the goody two shoes, leave it to beaver, “hes a war hero!” American dream. **rolls eyes** She’s a rich white lady with a savior complex.
right? This woman was married to John McCain – why are we surprised that she thinks like this?
They are the worst. McCain got whitewashed all his life, but I think it got even more pronounced at the end because he was not a traitor. I will give him that. He is like the one Repub who wasn’t going to sell out to Putin in service of the Orange One.
His daughter is just vicious. A big ball of venom. I personally think part of her rage comes from genetic resentment that she is built like her father and not her mother.
speaking of Megs, I wonder if the ladies at The View will bring up this topic.
@ Mia. Excellent point.
@ MIA- I really hope they bring it up as I’ve come to enjoy hate watching her clueless entitlement and her ridiculous rage.
Yes Mia,excellent point.I do not like Megan at all,she seems so angry,always mad.
I can’t listen to her anymore.
God that’s awful.
And on a superficial note… she needs to get rid of the black liner. Or line the bottom in a coppery brown or something softer. I have a similar eye color and all black liner that’s that extreme really brings out the ‘crazy eyes’. Light blue for whatever reason looks kind of wonky when you use that much black.
I do think with light blue eyes you have to go easy on the bottom liner but I would also say that thick black liner at her age looks good on nobody, regardless of eye color.
It’s a hard habit to break if you’ve been doing it for most of your life but I stopped lining my bottom lid with a dark liner in my mid-thirties because I felt like it was aging me. Nowadays I use a nude liner on my water line and a light neutral shadow on my lids (I still haven’t successfully given up my eyeshadow habit) and a coat of mascara and it makes my eyes (which are fairly big anyway) really pop. If I’m going out I put a thin line of brown liner over the eyeshadow and that’s more than enough.
Sorry to talk about superficial shit on a post about this hideous woman’s racism but I just had to weigh in because her eye makeup was bugging me too.
Lol, that’s fair, I think.
Have you noticed there seems to be a weird trend with the super religious right wing public figure ladies really clinging to the eyeliner? I see her, and the Duggers, the Pioneer Woman, Joanna Gaines, Kellyanne Conway… so many of them reallllyyyy are keeping the cosmetics companies going with their black liner!
I used to be super into metallics, and I’m going to be honest, I still am haha, but I’ve been using pinky mattes more and more on days when I’m looking extra tired or feeling sick, and it makes a huge difference. Brightening everything up really makes you looks healthy when you don’t feel it!
I still love it, but I have deeper set eyes so I’ve always had to be careful about how I use it. Some people look great, others don’t. I tend to lean towards a deeper plum or copper, or chocolate brown when I tight line because I know I can look a little crazy when I go heavy into black. It softens it just enough. My mom has the deepest, blueberry blue eyes and I was always so jealous because I find mine almost wash out in photos when the pick up more of a gray tone.
I’ll be 80 and I’ll still be rocking the eyeshadow, it’s too fun.
But in summary… this woman is crap. She’s a horrible woman, and she is making herself look even more horrible (at first glance) with her makeup choices. At least it matches her soul.
YES! It’s like they are all taking makeup queues from SJP. Maybe KA Conway should get tips about the perfect smoky eye from Swamp Hog Suckabee Sanders lol.
I almost always use a metallic shadow, ALWAYS–usually a copper shade or a deeper chocolate if I’m going out at night. I don’t like matte colors because at my age they tend to crease. But I’m like you, Erinn, they’ll have to pry my eyeshadow from my cold, dead hands lol.
I have big blue eyes and focused on eye makeup most my life. In my 40s I dialed down considerably and now, I’m down to mascara and shades of light brown shadows and liner. The liner is normally smudged shadow and never hard lines. Sad, but as you age, less is truly more lol.
I couldn’t get past the Great Clips haircut to see her eye makeup. That’s one ugly hairdo even for an old timer.
Smudging is key unless you’re using a very fine microliner. The worst is a really hard, sharp, thick line. Ugh.
@Nancy-Great Clips LOLOLOL
Yeah, but longer hair wouldn’t sync with her demeaner lol. The hair suits the crazy.
The higher the hair, the closer to Jesus 🤪. Don’t let her daughter read these posts, she’s very emotional.
Hahaha, I love you all for these comments.
My mom actually has a similar haircut to Cindy – but in a very more warm, approachable, low maintenance version. Not as primped or severe, not as dramatic – just softer. And a bunch of pretty reds and browns in it which make a huge difference. A lot more softened. But in Cindy’s version it’s very much the “I want to see a manager!” haircut.
I switched to brown mascara,this has helped tremendously to make me look more soft,especially since I’m blonde and pale.Anything black on my eyes makes me look too made up and harsh.
In a similar vein – I’m interested to see what you guys think.
I am non-white, an immigrant to Britain, but have British citizenship. My husband is as British (white, English) as a human can be on this island (they trace at least 7 generations on the same flipping bit of what is now Yorkshire). So, would our kids be ‘first generation British), i.e children of an immigrant to Britain, or would they be just…British, given their father is…British.
Either way, I’ve always said with my brown skin, I’d always be assumed to be the kid’s nanny, and this story is further proof of that. ah well.
Yup I’m “brown” ( never called that til 2016 but ok) with a Caucasian appearing child and his whole baby life you could see people playing “mom or nanny?” ONLY because I dressed up everyday and looked like a Mom vs Nanny – had to if I wanted to meet Moms instead of their help. Ridiculous
That’s so sad, Dorothy. It baffles me more because I live somewhere where… nanny’s aren’t really a thing. Babysitters are around, but honestly I can’t think of a single person who has a nanny. So it’s even more crazy for me to think that people would jump to that conclusion.
Same here: black woman, really light kid with straight hair (bi-racial). I had someone ask me how long I’d been taking care of him. I smiled and said “since he fell out of my vagina.” He couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
@ByTheSea LMAO NOT at what was said to you,but your response 😂perfect!
BytheSea that was an AWESOME retort. good for you.
I’d say that your kids would be just British bc their dad is British. Like, I don’t think Polo Baby would be considered “first generation British” because Meghan is American.
I hear you on the non-white mom being the nanny. Ugh. That ish happens all the time.
Nannies aren’t really a thing here either, but I still get considered that. Or a step mom. And was once asked if I was my kids foster mom. People assume the genes for darker features are dominant so there’s no way my kids could look the way they do.
Something like this was my biggest fear. I remember being in a store when a code Adam was called for a child matching my child’s description and I froze bc I had no proof she was mine. (The child was found safe.)
It was also scary when my kid went through a phase of yelling for help when I wouldn’t let her run around like a wild animal.
I’m Jamaican and my husband is African-American. Like your husband, his cousin, who is a historian, traced his family all the way back to a sale in 1780s South Carolina. When talking to my kids, I tell them that they have two histories. On their mother’s side, they’re first generation Americans. On their father’s side they have a family that can be traced all the way to founding of the country. They have two parents with two stories. So in my opinion, your children are first generation British, yet can trace part of their lineage 7 generations in the past.
well firstly I’d like to apologise for anyone assuming that you’re the nanny. I am also as you say “as British as a human can be on this island” and I wouldn’t presume anything of the sort (but I’m also from Yorkshire and we are the best!).
As for your children I would have said they’re British.
As a dark-skinned woman who birthed mixed ethnicity children:
I’ve been asked point blank, if I were babysitting my fair-skinned son. (As a roundabout way to find out if I were the mother – ‘but why not mind your own business?’, was my thought)
I’ve been stared at and asked the most probing, personal Qs FROM STRANGERS, about my relationship to my fair-skinned daughter.
I live on an island that is about 98% white. And, the ignorance is unfathomable, yet, unsurprising…
I assume this will be how it is for the rest of my life (and theirs) since racism is deeply etched in the very fabric of human society – no matter where you live.
It’s not going away anytime soon.
-N
I’m Caucasian, my kids are not and I used to get questions from strangers ALL.THE.TIME. It was really remarkable what people will say to someone they have never met – and in front of children, too! I really had to choose my responses carefully when my kids were young because I knew they were listening and learning from what I said.
My dad emigrated to Canada when he was 9, my mum is 3rd generation Canadian. Personally I consider myself plain old Canadian (as that’s where I was born), but occasionally I’m pleased to think that I’m first generation Canadian in my dad’s side. That said, I’m as pale as the winter snow, so I’ve never had to deal with being ‘othered’. I think your kids can just consider themselves whatever they’d like, personally. They fit into both categories. 😊
interesting cause we’re mixing ethnicity and nationalism and the two are as different as religion vs. state. As a mixed race person with kids even more mixed than me, i identify more with ethnicity and reference nationality only at border crossings. In our home we’re mixed race (multiple continents), my husband is euro-mixed and we’re Canadian when we vote.The kids don’t want to deny either of their parents though, so we educate them to be able to respond to issues they’ve already run into by teaching them about politics and history. Their ancestry.com map is beautiful though.
messed up story, great now people can’t even be with their own children. I can’t believe it. This is ridiculous and screams of racism. Sorry but if you can’t accept that families can have all kinds of ethnicities and you can’t normalize that different ethnicities can procreate then yes you have some racism that needs to be addressed. (Sorry this is a sensitive topic as I come from a mixed family of Germans and Arabs, and I am married to a German, if I end up having a white blonde baby I sure to god HOPE that nobody calls the police on me cause god forbid an Arab and a german procreate).
Ehhhhhh, as much as I think Cindy McCain can be very problematic, I think she is pretty well versed in trafficking red flags due to her charity work. International airports are a prime spot for child trafficking and I’m sure she knows the stats for that airport. Just the other day I read an article about a flight attendant rescuing a child on a flight that was being trafficked.
This sucks. All of it. But I don’t think her radar was pinging because of a mixed race situation…in this particular scenario. I was recently at a large, international airport in Florida and I was looking at kids with adults. You can usually tell if people belong to each other based on the non-verbals.
I can’t beleive that I’m stanning for Cindy McCain.
This isn’t stanning. You are offering a counterargument and that should be allowed.
Amen Jessica!
Zigzags and Jessica: well said. Perhaps her actions were not reflective of racism, but reflective of pure intentions to protect a child.
“Perhaps her actions were not reflective of racism, but reflective of pure intentions to protect a child.”
why not both?
no one is arguing that her intention wasn’t to protect the child. that part everyone seems to pretty much agree on. what people ARE arguing is WHAT SPARKED THAT INTENTION to protect the child.
by her own words, the woman and child were two different ethnicities. THAT is what she noticed, THAT is what led her to intervene to protect the child.
further, the bigger issue is that, even after the cops said there was nothing there, she went on a public forum and said that the woman WAS trafficking and that she (McCain) had saved her.
What are you talking about??
“I came in from a trip I’d been on and I spotted—it looked odd—it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had, and something didn’t click with me,“
That is not training from charity work. That is racial profiling. Stop.
Exactly. JFC.
The trafficking hysteria can get really crazy. On my son’s college campus, apparently a Korean woman was acting somewhat eccentrically and some moms were convinced she was trying to kidnap college girls for trafficking. The police talked to her a few times, apparently she’s a student, and nothing they could say would reassure these moms that the lady wasn’t a criminal. I get being vigilant but the paranoia can get out of hand. Sigh.
This – if she’d seen actual signs of trafficking, then by all means, contact authorities, but she only did it this time because the mother and child had different skin colors. WTF.
WORD.
@Esmom agree there is a certain brand of white lady panic over human trafficking. Paranoia is right
I understand what you’re saying…I think I read the same article. Flight attendants and other airport workers are trained to look for (as you said) non verbal clues, physical condition of the adult/child, their interactions, etc.
however, this sounds like the main issue for her was the fact that they were different ethnicities (that’s the only criteria she herself mentioned)…not that the kid seemed uncomfortable, not that the adult wouldn’t let anyone talk to the kid, not that the kid’s clothes seems dirty/ill-fitting, not that the kid seemed afraid, etc. I think she jumped the gun on this one.
You can’t know what the ‘main issue’ for her was at the time. It could just as easily be that something seemed amiss to her and that the races of the mother and child weren’t the main driving factor. The child or parent could’ve looked nervous, perhaps crying, frightened of the large airport crowds, etc. Everyone assuming it was race. Because she is white. Assuming doesn’t make anyone right.
Traveling as she does, she’s doubtlessly encountered mix-race families before, perhaps countless times.
So she looks like a fool, and she lied which is ridiculous. Maybe she indeed is a complete fool. I’d stick my foot in it if it meant I could be sure a child isn’t being harmed, however.
My son has a different last name than I do, and we travel internationally a lot. I actually have to carry his birth certificate and POA from my husband because every single border patrol gate I go through questions who is this child? What is he to you? It’s a pain in the ass but I understand why they do it. Being questioned about the legitimacy of your own relationship to your child sucks. But child protection should be taken that seriously.
Guys please. I am not assuming anything! I am going by what she said!
Guys please. I am not assuming anything! I am going by what she said!
I’m not claiming to read her mind or anything, but she herself only mentioned the different ethnicities of the two people. no, I can’t know what the main issue was for her, but if the only criteria she mentioned was ethnicity, and she didn’t mention any other specific thing like their behaviors, I’ll take her at her word.
the other thing that bothers me about this is something a poster mentioned below…that is, either she left before the cops had satisfied their suspicions (she couldn’t have been too concerned if she left before it was settled) or she waited until the cops settled everything and then lied about what happened. neither is a very good look.
Not defending her actions at all, I personally think she was most likely being racist or ignorant… But isn’t Phoenix famous for kidnapping?
No, I live in Phoenix, and we are not famous for kidnapping.
@Sterkviking 👏
Zig Zags – I agree with you. I feel like there might be more to the story here. Maybe there is, or maybe there isn’t.
ZigZags & aenflex: She said herself that it was because of different ethnicities. She said it.
RIGHT?! if she had noticed the behavior was off, or any other clue, she likely would have mentioned it. she could have said, “having been involved in trying to stop child trafficking for years, I recognize the signs…isolating the child from others trying to talk to her/him, poor hygiene on the part of the child, dirty clothes, etc” but all she mentioned was that they were different ethnicities.
I don’t have a problem with her saying something to the police (without more detail) but I do have a problem with her lying about this situation on a radio after she found out it wasn’t human trafficking.
This terrifies me. My child has a much different (lighter) skin tone than I do. Looks like me when you look past the skin tone part but I doubt someone like Cindy would be looking that hard. The idea of someone assuming he can’t be mine and the police questioning us and potentially separating us, even for a few minutes, is terrifying.
Screw her and her white savior complex. Like being brown isn’t hard enough in this country
My husband is Hmong and I am white. Our children are extremely fair skinned. We were at a Target when my son was younger. I had walked away to put something back and my husband was pushing the cart with our son. He said a woman was eyeing him up suspiciously and following them. Our son may look fair, but he’s a dead ringer for his father. Nothing happened in this instance (I assume I must have returned), but it was a very strange experience for my husband.
Not surprised have you seen Meghan McCain on the viee she’s an idiot
She is definitely an idiot, but to make things worse she is an angry one; she’s always ready to take offense, always ready to fight. She is just an unpleasant person.
I had an exhausting sis-in-law who would argue anything you said. It did not matter what you said, she would contradict and argue with you non-stop. One of those people who will literally argue the sky is not blue and water really isn’t wet. (it’s just your perception of the feeling apparently, water isn’t actually wet)
Yup, this is what racism looks like.
She needs to leave this job to the professionals and law enforcement who are trained to spot these things. On top of that she LIED about it. She made herself out to be a hero when she actually made a pretty awful mistake. Gross.
Thank you! There are so many in this thread racing to not take this woman at her own words and actions. I am so disappointed in some commenters. It feels like they’re going out of their way to excuse themselves. She racially profiled a mother and child then lied about it to make herself out to be some kind of hero? She is not helping her cause.
It would be different if the behavior of the woman and the child was peculiar. But that does not sound like the case, or at least that is not the way she is presenting the situation.
She’s unhinged.
I’m a little conflicted about this. I don’t doubt that she said something purely based on the different ethnicity of the mother and child, and then lying about the outcome afterwards was just ridiculous, but child trafficking is such a huge problem and such an evil crime that I would hate for the reaction this idiot got to stop people from speaking up if they see anything.
A few years ago when my son was 8, we got stopped and questioned at Heathrow (major trafficking hub). Now, he is my biological son, and we both look very similar but have different surnames, and that was a red flag. While it was slightly disconcerting hearing my son asked “who is this woman you are with” and all about where he lives and who he lives with, I didn’t mind. I totally understand why they had to do it.
Again, not excusing why she did it, but really hope people do still speak up if they see something. And no, a child with different color skin than a parent is not “something”
Child trafficking is a horrific evil and even one child falling victim to it is far too many, but child trafficking is not, by any actual statistic, a “huge problem.” It is rare, no matter how many times Drumpf gleefully tells his tale of duck taped women in trunks of cars.
TSA does watch for those things, it’s part of why they question children who don’t have ID about their ages, birthdays, who they’re traveling with, and why they’re traveling. They are supposed to be trained to look for signs that something is wrong. Flight attendants and airport check-in staff, too. That’s all good and correct and I’ve never even slightly resented officials asking my kids questions when we travel. Random people clocking someone’s skin color and harassing them because it doesn’t exactly match their kiddos is not even slightly helpful in preventing crime.
S- “but child trafficking is not, by any actual statistic, a “huge problem.” It is rare.”
I mean, I guess it’s subjective, but I’d definitely disagree with you and say it *is* a huge problem. It’s a multi-billion-dollar enterprise and one of the fastest-growing criminal industries. It affects every country in the world. There’s estimated to be nearly 25 million people trapped in forced labor due to trafficking and the staggering majority of those are women and children. And lastly, prosecution and prevention remains low – meaning it’s a problem we don’t yet have under control.
When I was a kid someone called the police on my dad when he picked me up from school. Apparently the guy thought something looked suspicious and took my dad’s licence plate number and about 10 minutes after we got home the police showed up. After confirming that I was my dad’s daughter they took us to a neutral location so that the man who called them could identify/confirm that I was the kid he saw getting into the car.
My dad played it up for me as a big adventure along the lines of ‘we get to ride in the back of a police car, fun!’ I remember both of my parents telling the police officer (and me after the police left) how grateful they were that people were paying attention, in case it had been something…
I assume my parents were sincere in their gratitude, but also my family is white and didn’t have a history of being racially profiled by police. So for them, this was a moment of ‘the police are looking out for my kid.’
We never found out what about my dad picking me up from school looked suspicious to that guy, it may have just been an instinct he couldn’t pinpoint. I guess my only point is that if not for Cindy McCain’s own description of events making her motives sound racist, I’d probably give her the benefit of the doubt based on my own experience. But how she describes it, takes away any doubt.
Oh, FFS, I can’t with this, most particularly when she herself has a daughter of a different ethnicity. And using a phrase associated with terrorism prevention (“if you see something, say something”) as justification, plus then going on to paint herself a hero for her blatant racist harassment? What an evil cow.
The TSA and airline employees are trained to spot signs of human trafficking and even parental abduction (and, sure, we can talk about how inadequate that training is, and the kind of people the TSA actually hires to do that work), at the various check points this family had obviously already gone through, so just let people living their lives be. It’s hard enough to travel alone with a toddler without Busybody McRacist turning it into an actual nightmare.
Cindy, step away from the OxyContin and put down that eyeliner!
She called the cops, which is one thing, Ok so that’s racist, but whatever, you were “concerned. The cops checked and everything was fine. That should have been the end of it.
BUT NO.
Then she went_on_the_radio and claimed that she was right and that she HAD stopped child trafficking. So the cops for a second time had to be like “uh no everything was fine”.
WTF.
Exactly! Even if you were to give her the benefit of the doubt that there was more to her suspicions than just ethnicity (not saying I am, she pointed out the differences in ethnicity specifically and didn’t elaborate on anything else that just “didn’t click” for her so on its face the story still just sounds like racism), the fact that she then lied about the outcome is ridiculous and awful. Did she walk away not knowing what happened and just made up a nice white savior story in her head? Did she know the outcome and still completely lie? Either completely terrible and she must have just assumed it wouldn’t be fact checked. Just gross. I’d await her whitewashed apology tour on her awful daughters show but The View was cancelled for me a long time ago
Yes, outright lying and then doesn’t apologize for lying. I live in Phoenix, and have never been a fan of Cindy’s, but I did think she was better than this.
Let me guess the scenario too – I bet it was a dark-skinned adult with a lighter child. That is probably why it was “suspicious” to her versus her as an adoptive white mother to a darker-skinned child.
IDK – my mom works with survivors of sex trafficking and my husband is in law enforcement in a border state. I don’t think the general public understands how absolutely insidious and disgusting and pervasive sex trafficking is in this country. I 100% get how the “see something – say something” can be an invitation for racist folks to cause even more damage to minority communities – and in the case of Cindy McCain in particular – she wanted cookies for being so “woke”. There are pretty specific signs that law enforcement and people trained in identifying sex trafficking go by to determine if a situation needs to be investigated.
It’s possible she was well-intentioned, but her “white savior” bs is nothing but a setback for people truly working to protect children and others caught in this disgusting web of crime.
Cindy and Meghan have gotten a pass for years as being “cool” Republicans, or perhaps even secretly not Republican. Not so. Just watch Meghan screeching all sorts of crap on The View any given day. They hate Trump for personal reasons….but not political ones. As it’s been said before, a lot of people’s problems with Trump isn’t the substance, it’s the presentation.
And if you want to read something interesting Google Cindy and how she got the drugs she was addicted to from a charity she was running (the guy who uncovered this was fired from the charity and tipped off the DEA.) She got a nice deal from law enforcement as a first time offender. Ask yourself if poor people are getting the same deal.
This. They don’t hate Trump’s policies or racism … They hate Donald Trump, personally. It’s a grudge fueled by the truly vile things Trump said, and continues to say, about McCain , not a principled stand against his all around awfulness.
Was John McCain a better man than Donald J Trump? Duh. That’s a bar so low a flea would have trouble limboing underneath it. Was John McCain a GOOD man? That’s a much more complex question. I think he was undoubtably a war hero, and to be admired for the incredibly principled stand he took as a prisoner of war, a stand he suffered for in ways I can’t even begin to comprehend, even when he could have used his status as son of an admiral to escape literal torture. So, yes, I deeply admire that he was able to survive that trauma and come back and create a life for himself. But he also used his power and privilege to do things like opposing making Martin Luther King Jr. day a holiday, calling King a “criminal,” among other things. A stance McCain clung to until finally apologizing, rather half-heartedly, in 2008. (2008!) He also was a part of the Savings and Loan scandal, one of five Senators who took illegal trips and gifts from crooked lobbyist Charles Keating, Jr. and it’s very unclear how his career not only survived that, though he did repay and apologize for it at the time, but what was a major political scandal was basically erased from McCain’s history. There’s plenty of other things in his voting and personal record—for instance, he began “dating” Cindy, while still married, and he then forced his invalid wife into divorcing him so they could marry—that also give me pause that McCain should be so completely lauded as he has been.
I totally agree. He cheated numerous times on his first wife, got engaged to Cindy while still married to his first wife. His first wife who was the mother to a couple of his children was in an accident that left her unable to walk. MSNBC had a two hour biography of him when McCain was running for president. McCain did not deny anything but said he was not proud of what he did.
He was both a war hero and an impulsive hothead and very human. Who can ever forget (if you are old enough) when he called off the debate with Obama to go “save the economy” during the financial crisis. I liked him but it was pretty clear who would better help us get through that crisis.. and that was not McCain.
Hmmm I bet the child was White and the woman was not. If it were vice versa, she probably would have just thought the kid was adopted or mixed. That’s f*cked up.
I went to a seminar once on human trafficking and one of the things they told you to look out for was people with young children with different ethnicities in airports or bus stations. Obviously there are some other clues (like discomfort in the child), but this is actually a thing. I also thought it was pretty racist, but they threw statistics around like 75% of non caucasian children are adopted by caucasian families, but the opposite very rarely happens, so there’s probably something there to consider too.
I can only imagine what people would think of me (white woman) hauling my brown toddler like an angry flailing sack of potatoes through the airport. Marriages between different cultures and ethnicity’s are a thing in 2019. While it’s admirable that she was concerned and said something it’s absolutely despicable she changed the outcome to make her out to be some sort of hero.
I kind of wonder if it was a combination of racial profiling and classism. Perhaps when a person who appears wealthy is with a child of a different ethnicity (like herself) that’s “ok” but if someone who appears less than wealthy is in the same situation it’s time to call the cops?
The reporting to the police is one thing.
But the publicly making sh*t up on a radio program about the woman waiting to sell the child to her accomplice AFTER the police determined there was no crime or trafficking.
Is the bat sh*t crazy part.
She wants attention and to feel important, which tells me the reporting in the first place was an attention grab too.
That kind of lying is also addict behavior, is Cindy popping pills again or did she ever stop.
As an immigration lawyer, I am not willing to call Cindy McCain out for making a report. I agree that she was racially profiling the mother and child and that human trafficking is not nearly as widespread or visible as the current administration seems to believe. But I think most of us would prefer that people not ignore unusual behaviour or their gut feelings when it comes to the safety of children. I just wish more people would learn the real risk factors for and signs of human trafficking instead of being ignorant vigilantes.
What I will call her out for is her self-aggrandizing and *demonstrably false* recitation of the event on the radio. The only reason to even bring this up is to make herself look good. I would have a lot more respect for her if she had quietly made this report and never said anything publicly unless and until the press caught wind of it and asked her directly about her involvement. I would have even more respect for her if she had quietly made the report, it had been an actual case of human trafficking, and she had kept silent until after the authorities had acted and released information about the case. In either of those scenarios, she could have made herself look a lot better and used this incident to talk about the real signs someone is being trafficked, how law enforcement is trained to address suspected cases, and the dangers of racial or ethnic profiling and false assumptions. NB: real traffickers are not likely to hang out in a busy airport with their victims; they prefer staying in the shadows as much as possible.
Cindy clearly has no regard for the very real fear and confusion this woman and her child must have felt when confronted by law enforcement. She has no idea how this one event might forever impact this family, especially when they must travel again in the future. I would not be the least bit surprised if the accused woman will ensure she has a copy of the child’s birth certificate/adoption decree on her at all times going forward. I suspect strongly she now feels forced to teach her child what to say and do if they are questioned again about their relationship and to explain in detail why the child should not joke or play pretend games with police or airline employees or TSA agents. I also do not doubt that this woman will have to explain to her child that some people might be suspicious of them solely because they do not like alike too.
Regardless – because we know how the Republithugs will try to spin this story – a border wall will not reduce human trafficking. Cutting refugee and asylee admissions to the bone will not stop children from being victimized.
A lot of talk about child trafficking but let’s not forget that our own government just trafficked thousands of children whom they outright refuse to return to their parents. Some of those children ended up in abusive homes. Some ended up with pedophiles. All were stolen from their parents.
Give me a break with the Whitey McCain defense. You’re concerned about child trafficking? You should be!! Our government just used your tax dollars to traffic thousands of them.
+1 I can’t with some of these comments.
The Trump admin waived ALL background checks for the people hired to man the largest child detention center, not even basic fingerprinting or a simple criminal history search was done. More due diligence is done for a Wal-Mart job than safeguarding children.
“Some of those children ended up in abusive homes. Some ended up with pedophiles. All were stolen from their parents.”
and a couple of them died, too. but no, let’s make sure that we clear Whitey McCain (thank you for that!) so she doesn’t sully the good name of the GOP.
I have an american friend whose father is white and mum is light brown. She takes her colouring from her dad and, as a child, her mother was always questioned and requested to present documentation proving she was her child. It’s upsetting and so, so, so dehumanizing. My friend is 30 years old so this has been happening for a while except now civilians think they have the right and privilege of airport staff whose main job is to check identities and entry/exit points.
My husband is white and I am brown. My daughter is white. You can imagine the rest… So many side eyes we get. Mostly they think I am her nanny.
I’m sure Trump supporters would call her a true American hero. Because racism = patriotism in their evil minds. (And they are delusional enough to think they will still go to heaven).
Why is she in first class flight attendant, transatlantic flights, drag?
Wait, this reminds me of another altruistic gesture of another one of our greats! The amazing LaLohan trying to snatch their kids from a middle eastern couple!
Oh my God!!! This type of ish is why I insisted that my half white child has my surname as her middle name on all legal documents… Birth certificate, passport, all IDs. I could just imagine me with my black self trying to explain to immigration that I am not trying to kidnap the White-looking baby in my arms. No sir Mr. Policeman, I am honestly her mother and we are just heading on a vacation without my husband, the White dad. Lol.
Ms. Cindy has some old, pre civil-rights–Southern – Belle eyes. Am now wondering what Cindy’s Bangladeshi-born daughter thinks of all this. What was it like for her growing up in Cindy’s world?
This.. I went with my step brother to help him fix a older woman’s computer as he had hurt his hand. She flipped out because “that gal isn’t white, and isn’t your sister” she wouldn’t let me in her yard let alone in her house . We left before she called the cops on her flip phone.
She too was a pre civil-rights–Southern – Belle in Minnesota .
Crazy isn’t it? I live in Canada and my late father was Metis (part French Canadian part Indian). My Caucasian mom (of German descent & blonde/fair skinned) fought her family in 1952 to marry Dad. My maternal grandmother’s argument? “You’ll have brown Indian babies”. SMH Even as I was growing up (blue collar/lower middle class neighborhood) there were some long time neighbors who were stand offish. Mom & Dad weren’t invited to neighborhood get togethers, The best neighbors they ever had were two couples from Trinidad who were of East Indian descent, they visited back and forth, went golfing, we babysat their kids. Even now, they check on my 88 year old mom regularly. I did notice over the years some of the Caucasian neighbors grudging accepted that my Dad was a good man who worked hard to own his own business and made a good living.
In western Canada in particular. racism against Indians and Metis is rampant and accepted. Lookswise, I am of kind of indeterminate ethnicity: Cree Elders will look at me and nod and say you are one of us; Italians speak Italian to me; in Vietnam I was followed by little old ladies who were certain I was part Viet:). However when I am out shopping with friends who look distinctly Indian, I notice we get followed closely in some stores. Makes me sick.
Sorry for the rambling post but this really hit a nerve.
@tigerLily. I just finished the book Indian Horse. I’ll never be the same.
ROFLMAOOO
And yet folks were mad at me when I didnt give two solid effs that John died and now here we are with his family proving how trash they always were
I’m sure Cindy would be A-OK if a cop came up to her and asked if her black daughter was hers, and if so, some proof to show it….you just know that cop would be in the eye of a McCain tornado. She and her daughter are both screeching hypocrites.
Many people working in the travel and logistics industry are now looking for signs of child trafficking. I would not be offended if someone questioned me about my relation to my children, if the intention was to protect children. Crossing the border, there are customs agent who will speak directly to my young kids, looking them in the eye, and ask, “Is THIS your mother?” We’re all caucasian looking. I understand why people would be rattled, but perhaps this incident was not about race.
This is something I always worried would happen to me. I’m black and my kids are white. (My mom and my husband are white) My son has blue eyes and blond hair. I always talk in the 3rd person (let mommy see…) but if a toddler has a temper tantrum and someone thought I was not his mother how do I prove he is mine?!
I am white, one of my kids is black and I am saved by white privilege (of course) from someone accusing me of kidnapping my own kids. I feel so awful for the people having to deal with this.
I liked her better when she was a pill head.