It only was a few years ago as a college freshman that my classmates and I were outraged by the artfully depicted injustice in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — a book commonly found on the reading list of most high school or college students. As part of the discussion, my professor posed the question, “Has slavery been abolished?”
“Nope. It’s happening right here in Grand Rapids,” was the matter-of-fact reply of one student. My rather conservative professor tried to redirect the conversation by first validating the fact that modern-day slavery was occurring all over the world, but perhaps the student was mistaken about it occurring so locally.
That conversation did not sit well with me — and after some research — my eyes were opened to the fact that slavery certainly had not ended back in the time of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
(Honestly, I never found out if my classmate was right — was sex slavery really happening in the city of Dutch windmills and conservatism?)
This was not just another problem for the “rest of the world” — it definitely was taking place in the U.S.; it just had a new face. Although human/sex trafficking hardly can be deemed something new, perhaps only now are we willing to notice it.
This disgusting practice is nothing new, but the concept was new to me as a college freshman. I still am shocked I could have been so shaken by the idea that something such as that could happen in the U.S. I realized it still occurred in faraway places such as Cambodia, but certainly not in a country that prides itself on the sanctity of human rights.
Well I was being naïve; the U.S. is not immune.
According to the nonprofit organization Street Grace, Atlanta is the No. 1 city in the U.S. for child sex trafficking, and the No. 10 city worldwide. Up to 7,200 men buy sex from girls as young as 10 or 11 in Georgia each month, according to the organization. This is happening in Atlanta?
I was just there at the beginning of the year and failed to see that statistic mentioned along with its boasts of being home to the Atlanta Braves and 1996 Olympic Games. I guess “Top 10 for Child Sex Trafficking” is a little more difficult to digest.
If it is happening there, could it really be such a leap to believe that some form of human trafficking could be taking place in Grand Rapids or any other city for that matter?
Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, points out while most U.S. citizens have a broad awareness that slavery is taking place, it is not understood very well. There are some incontrovertible facts that need to be grasped. Just like more historical slavery, human trafficking is a money-making business, generating billions of dollars a year.
Chances are, some form of human trafficking has taken place wherever you live — and anyone can be a victim. Even more disheartening, human trafficking is represented in our own homes. According to productsofslavery.org, victims are forced to make a large portion of the products we use on a daily basis.
However, here is the hope — It can be stopped. It must be stopped.
There are countless campaigns and activists waging a new war on human trafficking. Unlike Stowe, we are not limited to just a pen, we are privy to a vast variety of tools useful in spreading the word.
There are hundreds of organizations to get involved with — it only takes a quick Internet search. The organization Street Grace partnered with Whitestone Motion Pictures to create a short allegorical film about trafficking called “The Candy Shop.” Watch it with your friends. Sign up to receive updates from the International Justice Mission and then tweet about it to your followers on Twitter. Talk with your family.
However, do not observe just the conversation taking place about this issue. In “The Candy Shop,” a little boy cries out for the adult to “Do something!” Oftentimes, it is easy to read articles, watch such films and hear stories with passive thoughts of sympathy.
Human trafficking is not an abstract idea; this is happening to real people. These victims need more than passing thoughts. To win this war, tangible, measurable action must take place.
Kristen Kitti is a State News guest columnist and an English senior. Reach her at kittikri@msu.edu.
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