It’s
a trade of exploitation, manipulation and corruption, and it’s happening in
suburban, urban and rural areas all across the United States—a place we
unrealistically call “the land of the free.”
“Human trafficking is much closer to home than you
think; victims, younger than ever, are just as likely to be the homegrown
American girl next door as illegally imported foreigners,” said Amy FineCollins of Vanity Fair.
Women, children and young girls are held captive by
their pimps or johns. They are beaten if they refuse to comply with his
demands. They are often forced to take drugs, and they at times don’t remember
the events of their nights.
They are scared into submission with acts of
violence or threats of death. Their pimps tell them they are loved, promise
them happiness and an escape from the struggles of their former lives, but then
force them into a life worse than any they could have imagined.
They are made into objects of no value, stripped of
their humanity and personality, alive only to make money for the man that owns
them.
Human trafficking is now the
second fastest growing criminal industry, behind only drug trafficking, and
children are approximately half of all victims, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice.
It
is a crime not often talked about, and its victims often stay silent out of
fear of the repercussions from their pimps or johns. It’s not a lifestyle these
women and children ever choose, but it’s one forced upon them out of
desperation and trickery.
Many
victims come from backgrounds of abuse and neglect in their families, and they
are seeking love and wanting to be wanted, and there are men waiting who know
how to prey on them and play with their emotions.
President
Obama has declared January National Slavery Human Trafficking Prevention month
in efforts to shed light on this illegal and immoral industry, according to the
CNN Freedom Project.
It’s a step in the right direction.
The
FBI has also recognized the need for radical change, and states that they are
“working hard
to stop human trafficking—not only because of the personal and psychological toll it
takes on society, but also because it facilitates the illegal movement of
immigrants across borders and provides a ready source of income for organized crime
groups and even terrorists.”
Sex
trafficking is an industry, and financially, it has been extremely successful.
The
Polaris Project based out of Washington, D.C. said “trafficking for sex and forced labor
generates billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people
globally.”
The
size and scale of human trafficking is sickening and horrible, and we need to
take a stand against it.
On
average, victims are young children when they are forced to enter into sex
trafficking of some sort. They can’t defend themselves against their johns, and
we as a nation need to be their voice and their rescue.
The
Shenandoah Valley Justice Initiative recently worked to create a JMU club
called SVJI-JMU that works to involve students in the fight against modern-day
slavery.
Get
involved. Don’t let this continue to be what the FBI calls “a problem of
epidemic proportion.”
These
women and children are not criminals—they are victims of a horrendous crime.
They should not be prosecuted—they should be protected. They don’t need
pity—they need action and they need us.
