A packed Union lounge Friday night told Malynda Jennings there might be hope for the thousands of children living the life she used to — forced to give oral or physical sex as a child sex slave.
Jennings spoke about being trafficked by her parents even before she was 2 years old, in a small, eastern Michigan town to raise awareness about human trafficking in Michigan during the University Activities Board’s Spartans Against Slavery event.
“It’s a horrific act that some other people do at the cost of innocence of another person,” Jennings said. “There’s no race, creed or color to it.”
About 2,500 suspected incidents of human trafficking, mostly sex trafficking of children, in the U.S. were recorded between January 2008 and June 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. There were about 140 calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center from Michigan regarding human trafficking incidents from January to September 2012.
In July 2011, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette launched his department’s first human trafficking unit and already has prosecuted sex traffickers in Michigan, including the “Detroit Pink” prostitution ring.
Jennings said as a child, she was forced to engage in sexual acts regularly with 10 to 15 different men — enduring what she called “deer hunting” when men hunted her down in the woods.
She said the worst part was listening to the screams and cries of her siblings and other children enduring the same fate in nearby rooms.
Eventually authorities intervened and Jennings’ mother agreed to move her out of the house and to Detroit — where the trafficking began again.
“It was just a feeling of hopelessness,” Jennings said.
Jennings, now 39, said by age 15, she already had a son.
She said it took her years to forgive her mother, and said God helped her cope with the events of her youth. Now, Jennings works to educate others in the hopes of preventing similar tragedies from tearing apart other children’s lives. She calls herself a reviver, not just a survivor.
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“It was totally amazing to see the amount of people that came,” Jennings said of the more than 250 people who atteneded her speech on Friday night, adding she was especially encouraged by the number of men at the event.
Criminal justice senior Fou Fonoti, an offensive tackle for MSU’s football team, attended the event Friday with several other student athletes, including junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell, and said he was surprised to learn incidents of sex trafficking could be happening so close to home.
Fonoti said he was shocked to learn there could be people in East Lansing and at MSU going through experiences like Jennings’ without him knowing, and said he hopes to let more people know about this issue.
Jennings, along with event organizer Jenna Virant and Lauren Lancaster, co-founder of the nonprofit Songs Against Slavery, said students need to understand that sex trafficking is occurring in Michigan, and could be happening in Greater Lansing.
Lancaster, an elementary education junior, also said it was encouraging to see the amount of people who came out to learn about the issue, as well as enjoy the free Biggby coffee and music.
“Slavery can be stopped in our generation if we rise up together,” she said.
If you suspect human trafficking, call 1-888-373-7888.
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