Marguerite Bennett's Blog, page 50
July 31, 2017
Flight attendant sees “I need help” written in bathroom, saves teen from human trafficking
written by Sophia Perez on July 7th, 2017
Flight attendant Shelia Frederick was making her rounds on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco when she noticed something strange: a blonde teenager wearing wrinkled, old clothing was seated by a window, next to a well-dressed older man. The girl had a large bruise on her leg. When Shelia noticed her, the girl looked up.
“Her eyes just pierced my soul,” remembered Fredrick. “They fixed on me and I knew something was wrong and I needed to help her.”
Fredrick went to the nearest lavatory and placed a note for the girl where she could find it. She also left a pen.
When she returned to the young girl, the man seated next to her was eyeing a menu. Fredrick looked at the girl and mouthed “go to the bathroom.”
The girl followed Fredrick’s instructions. Sure enough, when Fredrick checked the note, she had written back:
“I need help.”
Fredrick called the captain, who arranged for police to be waiting in the terminal when the plane arrived in San Francisco. The teen was a victim in an incident of human trafficking. She had been kidnapped for over two months by the time she and Fredrick locked eyes.
“Traffickers use commercial airlines all the time because it keeps them anonymous,” said Nancy Rivard. Rivard was an American Airlines flight attendant before she founded Airline Ambassadors International in 2009.
Rivard identified multiple trafficking victims before becoming frustrated by the lack of training that she and her coworkers received in the area. She founded Airline Ambassadors to teach crew members how to spot victims. Airline Ambassadors now works alongside US Customs and Border Protection to stop human trafficking in its tracks.
“It’s incredible this isn’t industry-wide yet,” Rivard asserted. That said, more and more airlines are starting to implement similar training.
Fredrick identified the teen back in 2011. Since then, Frederick has become an Airline Ambassadors member and has received training in how to identify human trafficking incidents.
“I tell people to be aware of their surroundings,” said Fredrick. “There are so many warning signs. Look closely.”
A few months after the incident occurred, Fredrick was surprised to receive a phone call from the young girl she rescued. She called to “say thank you and that she was back with her family, in therapy,” Fredrick remembered.
Fredrick and the girl still keep in touch every so often. According to Fredrick, the girl is now attending college, working towards a brighter future.
This should be a movie.
This woman is a goddamn fucking hero. Thank god for people like her.
July 30, 2017
stuck-inasmalltown:
i don’t mean to be political, but what if everyone had basic human rights
i don’t mean to be political, but what if everyone had basic human rights
0hcicero:
cognitive-exper-ti-se:
brookenomicon:
*SLAMS FIST...
equilateralwaffle:
i was trying to find this meme today so i...
i was trying to find this meme today so i could make this, luckily a version appeared on my dash
"She got no standing ovation. She got no mainstream media lauds for her heroism. She got no kudos..."
She got no standing ovation. She got no mainstream media lauds for her heroism. She got no kudos for leaving home, a much longer journey than that other senator, the one from Arizona, to get to DC, and there are no mainstream media stories on it that I can find… I only found out from a friend who spotted it on Twitter.
She didn’t do it for publicity.
Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii was just doing her job as a good politician, voting not to repeal the ACA so as to protect her constituents. She has Stage Four kidney cancer — that means scarce chances of survival — is recovering from a second surgery to remove part of a rib, and made sure she got to her seat in the Senate Chamber to vote “no” to whatever Republican wealth-care crap was thrown at her.
But you’ll only find out about it on social media. Because she’s not a pale male, maybe?
- The heroic Senator with severe cancer who interrupted treatment to vote… NO
(via wilwheaton)
queerafricanboy:
weavemama:
Malala really is a class act for...
Malala really is a class act for standing up against the horrors many women and girls face around the world. She needs to be protected at all costs, bc the world needs more people like her.
A Hero.
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