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| Poster I put together to spread awareness of today's slavery |
Over the past few years I have come to learn more about modern day slavery, specifically in America. Below are some of my thoughts on the subject as well as basic information I've gleaned from Free the Slaves, Change.org, Polaris Project, Mira Sorvino, the Not My Life film project, and news articles from places such as CNN and FOX News.
1. There are said to be an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today.
2. There are said to be an estimated 14,000-17,000 slaves who are trafficked into the US each year.
3. Modern day slavery includes sex slaves, agricultural/labor slaves, and domestic slaves. The majority of slaves are sex slaves.
4. Even if a slave is not technically a sex slave, however, a slave is still subject to sexual crimes. For example, a domestic slave may work in her master's house (cleaning, cooking, taking care of the children), but she may also be raped by the husband of the family once, twice, multiple times, etc. She could also be passed around within the family (meaning perhaps the husband's brother may also rape her).
5. Slaves are forced to work against their will and receive little to no pay for their labor.
6. Slaves experience a myriad of medical problems including starvation, sleep-deprivation, and mal-nutrition.
7. Modern day slavery works like an underground crime. It is, after all, organized crime. Many slavers have contacts around the globe and can call up their buddies at any time to do their "dirty work." For example, say a slaver, Raul, trafficked a girl from Guatemala to Newark, New Jersey. Raul tells his slave that if she does not cooperate, he will have her family killed. Raul is not bluffing. If she escapes or rebels in any way, he will call his buddies in Guatemala and order them to kill this girl's family. His buddies will comply.
8. Human trafficking is the modern day slave trade--not slavery itself.
9. One way modern day slavery differs from the slavery of the past is that today slavery is not an acceptable practice. It is considered horribly inhumane by society. This is an advantage when trying to pass legislation or gain public support for anti-human trafficking campaigns. However this is also a disadvantage, for since slavery is illegal, those who practice it do it in secret. Therefore, it is harder to find slavery.
10. In a twist of justice, sex slavers will sometimes run free while their slaves will be imprisoned for long periods of times. For example, a sex slave working in forced prostitution will be arrested for prostitution while the one forcing her to do this (her pimp) will not get in thetrouble with law.
11. Not many Americans are aware of exactly how close slavery is to them, but it could very well be in their neighborhood, their church, their school, the supermarkets they go to, the hotels they stay in, or the parks in which they wander. One man discovered during a family Thanksgiving celebration that a member of his own extended family was a slaver. Given the fact that slaves in America work in places such as suburban homes, hotels or motels, strip clubs, brothels, fields, hair and beauty shops, restaurants, and common stores such as supermarkets and department stores, it is very likely that common day every people have seen slaves without ever realizing it. That is why it is critical that common people learn how to recognize slavery.
Many slaves in America are brought to freedom because common, everyday people see a situation that looks suspicious and call the authorities. As Kevin Bales, president of the Free the Slaves organization and author of numerous books on the subject, wrote, “About one-third of the handful of slaves freed in the United States each year come to liberty because an average person sees something he or she just can’t ignore.”
12. Spreading a little awareness can do a lot. There was a police force that had no clue what modern day slavery was and how to look for it. One day before going out to their specified locations for the day, someone played for them a short video clips about how to recognize victims of human trafficking. It just so happens that during that same day, one of the police officers from that unit recognized a girl roaming about whom he identified as a victim of human trafficking. She was. In fact, she was trying to escape, but she was terrified to speak to anybody. The police officer had said that if he had not seen that short video clip, he would have never spoken to the girl and would have thought she was simply having a bad day.
13. Why don’t slaves simply run away? It’s not that easy.
a. One reason is the fear of physical punishment from the slaveholders.
b. Another reason is the fear of the outside world: slaveholders often strike fear into their slaves of the outside world. They will show their slaves videos and TV shows that portray a violent and cruel society.
c. Fear of the American authorities also keeps slaves from escaping: slaveholders will inculcate into their slaves a fear of the American authorities by saying the police will throw them in jail and torture them, and perhaps even deport them back to their homeland.
d. A fourth reason is the fear of their family’s safety: slaveholders will threaten the slaves that if any slave should rebel or run away, his/her family will be killed.
e. A fifth reason is that slaves feel they must pay their debt: slaveholders say that the slaves must pay their debt through their labor. In actuality, however, the slaver continues to take the money that his/her slaves makes and increase the supposed debt so that the slaves can never pay back the money. Many slaves feel the responsibility to pay this money back, so they stay until they have paid their debt (which can never be done).
f. Loyalty to their slavers also keeps slaves from running away: Sometimes slaves have been so far-removed from any other type of life that they develop a sense of loyalty to their masters. This often makes the slave feel as though he/she is guilty and should be punished (this type of mentality comes from the brainwashing of the slaveholder). The slave also feels a huge sense of shame and remorse, especially is she has been raped many times. This will keep her from wanting to relate her story to any other outside person. Kevin Bales explained it as such: “Rape victims often feel intense shame, though they know rationally that they have done nothing wrong. Slaves will also feel shame, even self-loathing, in a way that paralyzes them and prevents escape.”
g. Another reason is language and location: Normally the slave is a trafficked victim from another country. That being said, the slave will most likely not speak English and know nothing of their location. Slaveholders will generally make sure that the slave does not know where they are. Imagine being blindfolded, tied in a sack, and transported to somewhere by plane or car that took a three days. The people around you are speaking a language you never even heard of. It would help if you could recognize the language, but you’re only a 12-years old girl who grew up in a small, poor village. Where are you? How are you going to escape in a land so foreign to you? This is quintessentially the case for most trafficked victims.
h. An eighth reason is food and rest: even if the slave has managed to mentally ignore the intimidation tactics, he/she will not get around the physical damage. Slaveholders provide just enough food, water, and rest for their slaves to work, yet not anywhere near enough for the slaves to have any physical strength to retaliate. Most slaves are malnourished and thus spirit-broken. Kevin Bales mentions, “He (the slaveholder) must keep the victim tired enough to be confused and debilitated but not so tired that she can’t perform her work.” A slave can get 3 hours of sleep a day and work 15 to 20 hour days each day. Keep in mind that for a sex slave, that means she sleeps three hours and then gets raped for 15 hours, sleeps three hours, gets raped for 15 hours, sleeps for three hours, gets beaten and then raped for 15 hours. The cycle continues. She is in no condition to run away. She is physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually worn out.
i. Lastly, domestic slaves may not run away because they form a bond with their master’s children. Domestic slaves often take care of their master’s children and they often cannot bare the thought that if they escape, the children are left to suffer from the hands of the slaveholder (aka their mother or father or both). So the slave stays to protect the children.
14. Victims of human trafficking sometimes do not even know they are victims because they’ve been continuously brainwashed by their slaveholders.
15. Obviously the root of slavery is sin: greed, lust, pride, and selfishness. Though there are other surface causes such as poverty and ignorance. Many slaves in America are lured into slavery under the guise of a promising job opportunity in America. Families that live in extreme poverty and are unaware of slaveholder’s tactics will willingly go along with the slaveholder in order to provide food and money for their family back home. What would you do if you were the only one physically able to work a job while your brother was dying of AIDS, your mother and father were dying of starvation, and an honest-looking man offered you a well-paying job in America, the land of opportunity? These people will go along with the slaveholder ignorantly until they arrive in America. There they realize they have stepped into a trap of which they cannot get out. Their slaveholder takes their passports and all of their identification papers. He threatens them and their families back at home. He tells them of the huge debt they have accumulated and that they must work to pay it off. He tells them he is their master and they must obey him. He beats them to prove he means business. If they are women, he rapes them and he could easily inflict any other inhumane tortures upon his new slaves.
16. Modern day slavery has only recently become more known among common people in our society. This is due to a lot of media attention. Within the past few years, modern day slavery has been in the news much more frequently and has been spoken about in books, movies, magazines, photography, songs, and the like. For example the famous TV show, Law and Order Special Victims Unit, aired an episode about modern day slavery called "Merchandise." Pop-artist Jason Mraz wrote a few songs this past year inspired by his experience of witnessing slavery.
17. I fully support organizations that are working to abolish modern day slavery, however personally I do not believe slavery can be completely and utterly abolished until Christ’s return. As I’ve said many times, “slavery's root is found in sin and sin will not completely be destroyed until Christ's return. However, I do not believe that this means we should refrain from helping those who are oppressed. Although we cannot completely destroy slavery as a whole, we can help individuals come to freedom. And we should, for each person holds significant value in God's eyes and therefore should never be treated with disrespect as if certain people are less deserving of our love--of God's love. After all, as Christians we are to ‘Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed’ (Psalm 82:3).”
18. That being said, there are steps we can take to free individuals such as pushing for legislation, spreading awareness, promoting education, pushing for fair-trade products, or taking action when a particular situation seems “sketchy.”
19. Slaves are much cheaper today than they used to be. Back in 1850, a slave cost around $40,000 in today’s money in Southern America. Today, the global average cost of a slave is $90.
20. Although it is true that many trafficked victims come from other countries, human trafficking also occurs within America, meaning, for example, a girl from New Jersey could be lured into the sex trade and sent to other states within America.
21. Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal enterprise in the world today. In fact, it has become so profitable that many drug dealers and drug traffickers are switching over to human trafficking.
22. Slave survivors are not completely “free” once they are rescued from their master’s bondage. They have been through an enormous amount pain, grief, fear, and torture. Getting back on their feet and living a normal life again after so much hardship is going to take a lot of time, counseling, education, and medical treatment.
23. From a Christian perspective, I believe that we as Christians should pray not only for the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. After all, John Newton was a slave trader, but eventually found salvation in Christ and wrote perhaps the most well-know hymn, Amazing Grace. We should pray not only for their physical freedom, but also their spiritual freedom. As Christians we can offer survivors a hope that the counselors and medications cannot offer – Christ.
24. Slavery is illegal in all of the places it occurs.
25. Slaves can be any age, race, or gender.The majority of slaves, however, are children.
26. Slaves can be born into slavery (as it was in the past).
27. If girls in the sex slave industry get pregnant, they are forced to get abortions.
28. Domestic slavers rarely enslave someone because of the money. They do not reap much profit from a domestic slave. However, they do get free service and care for their home and children and anything else they force their slave to do. They also gain power, which is a huge reason for domestic slavery.
29. Although the majority of slaves are sex slaves and women, there are male slaves working in agriculture. Some males are forced into sex slavery.
