Not For Sale
The truth behind modern day slavery

Count to sixty, now count again. In those two minutes four children were sold into slavery. That averages to 120 an hour, and 2,880 a day. When the word slavery comes into perspective, what do you think of? Most likely you think of the African slave trade in the 17th and 18th century, but it’s unlikely you think of the severity of human trafficking in the world today. Today there are 27 million people trapped in the world of human trafficking. They are forced to work in mills, homes, and even expected to perform sexually. Slavery is not just a thing of the past; it is still in effect in 161 countries, Including the United States. Even with every country in the world having laws and regulations against slavery and human trafficking, there are still 600,000 to 800,000 people transported every year. The hard fact is there are more slaves today than at any other time in history, and now is the time to end it.
Slavery is not just being sold, it is the suppression of race, morals, values, gender, emotions, dignity, and purity. People are having their lives destroyed by trafficking and they aren’t doing it willing. Some are born into this act of slavery, others are kidnapped, and some are deceived into thinking they are going into interviews, several are even adopted just to be put on the market. Out of 17,500 victims being transported the average age is 14, and in the total of the 27 million most range between 18-24 years old.

In Clayton County, Georgia on February 13, 2013, a woman was arrested for the sex trafficking of two girls, ages fourteen and twelve. The woman provided them shelter, food, and clothes and in return demanded work from them. They were expected to pay off their debt by performing for men in the woman’s apartment complex. This horrific idea of people being property is impossible for some to wrap their head around because it’s rarely discussed or seen, but it’s happening in our back yard. Atlanta is the number one hot spot for human trafficking. Do you realize only an hour away thousands of innocent people are being sold, traded, or used?
"A little girl is sold by her impoverished family — girls my daughters' age — ... and then imprisoned in a brothel or tortured if she resists, that is slavery,"-President Obama. The largest category of slavery is sex slavery, the sexual exploitation of women and children. Of the 27 million men, women, and children involved in this tragedy, 80 percent of the victims are women. In our everyday lives, we never think about something so senseless happing so near to us. However, 500 underage girls are working the streets of Atlanta any given night. That is five-hundred girls who are raped, tortured, abused, and treated like garbage. A child should be loved passionately by her friends and family, attending school, hanging out with her friends at the mall, not watching her pride and purity drifting away. Such horrors can’t continue to happen; it’s sick and depressing, and rips away the humanity from these people and from the world. Seventy percent of female victims who are trafficked are sold into the sex industry. This is equal to 15,119,999 innocent women and children who have been forced to grow up to soon, to lose their virtue, and to lose themselves.
Now the only inherent problem that we’ve fallen upon is the secrecy and everyday lively hood of these pimps, Masters, and Johns (clients). These people associating and using the slaves could be anyone, the cashier at your local grocery store or even your neighbor. The only way we can crack this case is by being observant. We need to know the signs and sense the secrecy. We need to understand the meaning of trafficking and what’s going on around us. Being aware and watchful guides the pathway for alerting police, authorities, and political officials. Once these criminals start disappearing off the street, fewer innocent people will lose their lives to slavery.
Now is the time to end it, to end the slavery and trafficking, to end the hurt and pain. We as a nation need to stop viewing slavery as an “old fashioned” problem. It’s alive and strong, and the time has come to stand up for the lost souls of the broken hearted. Victims being taken and never heard of again is not an excuse for us to not search for their voice. It’s our place to search desperately for them and to restore them. All over the country 60,000 college students took part in the Passion 2013 conference where the focal point of the weekend was the brutality of human trafficking. They signed pledges and petitions ‘declaring it was time to be heard, and time to free the 27 million captured victims, through the End-It movement.
The End-It movement provides an outlet for thousands of students around the country to get involved and take a stand for the silent. The organization raises awareness of slavery and it continues to grow with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been given to the End-It movement. Alongside with the End-It movement you can also take part in other activities to help proclaim your stand on slavery. For example, Host an awareness event on human trafficking such as Passion City Church did. A way my own high school is helping is by getting our schools FCA to raise awareness, organize fundraisers, take part in pledges, and donate your service and time. We can also encourage our local schools to work with students and include the issue of modern day slavery in their curriculum. Campaigning and sending letters to your state representative and politicians and letting them know the people care about the abuse and rights of these victims. On a more personal level, you can volunteer your time for victim outreach and begin to understand the horrors these people have suffered through.
Slavery is an issue the United States and many other countries have struggled with. But it’s an issue that is long overdue. We need to be angry the world would let this happen; we need to let this rock us to our core. The only way we can end something so devastating and cruel is by making the change to stand up for what is right. “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”- Abraham Lincoln. Having fundraisers, signing pledges and raising awareness can make a massive dent in the industry of selling and trading people. It raises awareness to help understand what we’re fighting for. It alerts the enforcement and politicians this is something we are deeply concerned with and want to change. A movement so massive and strong should scare these criminals who treat people so harshly to the point where they cower away from such transgressions. It’s outrageous that for every 800 people trafficked only one “recruiter” or “trader” is convicted. This is happening in our back yards, in the apartment complexes next to you, and in the old factories downtown. Slavery is not something of the past, it’s booming more than it has ever been. The only way to stop it is to make yourself known and get the people you interact with everyday involved.

Human trafficking is the slavery of our time. During the African slave trade the average price of a healthy male slave was the equivalent to today’s worth of $40,000. Today you only pay the small price of $90, in reality you spend more on an iPod. Last year the sex industry profited $32 billion, that’s more than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined. Justice is what love looks like in public. For these people it is greatly needed, because sadly their hope is dwindling quickly. ”I do not wish to be misunderstood upon this subject of slavery in this country. I suppose it may long exist, and perhaps the best way for it to come to an end peaceably is for it to exist for a length of time. But I say that the spread and strengthening and perpetuation of it is an entirely different proposition. There we should in every way resist it as a wrong, treating it as a wrong, with the fixed idea that it must and will come to an end”- Abraham Lincoln