21st Century Slavery:
What Can We Do About It?
By David Livermore & Julie Slagter nonfiction
We learned about slavery as kids in school – southern plantation owners abusing, buying, and selling people to turn a profit. Thank God we’ ve moved beyond that barbaric era … right?
Not so fast. Meet Elira, an Albanian woman, who was manipulated by her new boyfriend into moving to Greece for a better life. When they arrived, he forced her into prostitution and kept all the money she earned for himself. She is a 21st-century slave. She didn’ t come from Africa to pick cotton, but what she thought was a budding romance turned into an abusive master-slave relationship. For Elira, slavery means being molested weekly by hundreds of strangers and enduring violent rape, sometimes multiple times a day.
Or meet James, a nine-year-old boy from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was forced to be a soldier. Slavery for him means sleeping with a gun under his head, being forced to kill people, performing sex acts with other soldiers, and knowing he may die of starvation.
Slavery didn’ t end in the Civil War era. In fact, there are more people enslaved today than during four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. 1 There are more slaves today than ever before.
A Snapshot of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is an international crisis that includes people like Elira who are forced into prostitution, and people like James who are forced to kill. People are trafficked for a variety of other jobs, including domestic help, construction, and farming. Elira and James are among millions of people trafficked annually. 2 And not just in faraway places such as Greece and the Congo, either; it also happens in North American cities such as Albuquerque and Toronto and on farms in Alabama and Michigan.
Women and children are the largest group of victims, most of whom are caught in an endless cycle of indebtedness that’ s nearly impossible to pay off. For example, women such as Elira are told they owe a $ 75,000 debt, usually due to an exorbitant price put on their lodging, food, clothes, etc. And no matter how many times a day they sell their bodies, trick after trick, they can never make enough money to pay off the debt. In fact, their debt grows faster than their earnings.
The sale of people is a lucrative business – and the traffickers aren’ t the only beneficiaries. Others who profit from this barbaric business include weapons manufacturers, condom manufacturers, the person selling chocolate that came from slave labor, the taxi drivers who drive customers to brothels, and the fast-food restaurants supplying food to traffickers waiting for their“ product” to be sold on a cold, dark street corner.
We noted earlier that this crime is as close as our own backyards. Trafficked people can be found all throughout the developed world in urban, rural, and even suburban settings. Similar to the international crisis, sex trafficking is the largest U. S. form of slavery. Women and children are often unknowingly recruited into strip clubs, street-based prostitution, escort services, and massage parlors. Pimps target runaway youth or homeless kids, offering them a place to live, food to eat,“ freedom” from their parents, and some income. The average age of entry into U. S. prostitution is 12 to 13 years old. The typical victims aren’ t just homeless youth in Miami or L. A.; they’ re kids from Indianapolis, eastern Colorado, Saskatchewan, and Grand Rapids. Growing numbers of U. S. traffickers are scouting for recruits at restaurants, bus terminals, traveling carnivals, peddling / begging rings, and in traveling sales crews. 3
This isn’ t a faraway issue. This is an industry targeting youth everywhere.
Toledo, Ohio is the second largest area in the U. S. for human trafficking mainly because of its major highways running in all directions. Traffickers rotate teens among highway welcome centers, hotels, and truck stops. And because of Ohio’ s proximity to Detroit and its large farming areas, trafficking women, children, and even men can be hidden and then used for slave labor or sex for profit. 4
Slavery takes huge emotional, spiritual, and physical tolls on its victims. The layers of mistrust, trauma, abuse, and spiritual doubt are far beyond what victims may even be aware of. Many victims believe all hope is lost. Women like Elira sometimes separate from their traffickers but continue working in prostitution because it becomes a habit or addiction. Or they may not know how to find employment elsewhere, so they keep selling their bodies in order to support themselves and their families. Trafficked children often miss out on learning how to read and write, and the only“ skill” they’ ve learned is having sex with men. Hope and change can feel out of reach. It’ s not enough to simply free slaves – something more is needed.
Calling for Abolitionists!
Many of us are deeply concerned about this issue, so you probably won’ t have to look far to find people willing to take up this cause. Here are few ways to get started. In addition, go to Michigan Abolitionist Project’ s website( www. MichiganAbolitionistProject. org) for more ideas and information.
Education and Awareness
As with so many issues around the world, education and awareness are important parts of responding to this crisis. Michigan Abolitionist Project provides
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