The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
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A quick heads up before we get started. This episode discusses suicide. Please listen with care. About a year ago, a man named John Barnett got into his orange Dodge Ram to take a road trip. He was driving from his home in Louisiana to Charleston, South Carolina. He was going there to give a deposition in a long-standing legal case he had against his former employer. Before Barnett hit the road, he told his mother, Vicki Stokes, that he had a bad feeling about the trip.
You know, I asked him, I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I just don't have a good feeling. I'll just be glad to get this trip over with. He says, I'm not scared. He said, I just don't have a good feeling about this trip.
After two grueling days of depositions, and before he finished his testimony, Barnett was found dead in his truck in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn. Police ruled his death a suicide. In his truck, on the seat beside him, there was a note. It was in Barnett's handwriting. It said that he was at peace and that he loved his family. And in large letters, followed by three exclamation points, it said, I pray Boeing pays. Boeing. Barnett worked for the airplane manufacturing giant for nearly 30 years. Before he left the company, he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor, alleging the company retaliated against him and pushed him out because he'd raised safety concerns. Boeing disputes this.
In a statement, the company said, quote, we are saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing and our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends. Boeing's statement concluded, we encourage all employees at Boeing to speak up if they see a potential problem or issue. Over his career at Boeing, Barnett did speak up. A lot.
He just felt like they didn't care. And, you know, he just, he didn't know where to go. And we tried to tell him, you know, you can't fight a company like that. Just let it go. And he said, I just, you know, I can't.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Tuesday, February 18th. Coming up on the show, the life and death of a Boeing whistleblower.
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John Barnett grew up in Louisiana. His family called him by his middle name, Mitch. Here's his older brother, Rodney Barnett.
I don't remember us ever calling him John. He's always been Mitch to us. That's just ever since we were small.
We talked to Rodney about his younger brother over the phone from his home in central Louisiana. Rodney said that their mother, Vicki, instilled a clear sense of right and wrong in her kids.
She had to raise us, the four boys, by herself pretty much single-handedly. And, you know, she taught us to always do what was right and stand up for those that couldn't stand up for themselves.
Rodney remembers one day when they were kids, when Barnett and one of his friends were throwing rocks at an abandoned house, and they got caught.
So the police showed up. and brought him to my mom, and the policeman was laughing. He said, you have one honest kid. He said, because when I got these two, he said, I asked them, did they bust the windows? And the friend of Mitch was the son of a preacher. And the friend told him, no sir, they didn't do that. so he turned to mitch and he asked he said did you throw rocks and bust that door he said yes sir he said i threw that first rock and it bounced right off that sucker so i threw another one as hard as i could did he get it and did he end up getting in trouble oh we always got in trouble but you know it was it was for the good it taught us a lesson
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