Excerpts:
Most people who are aware of the existence of human trafficking think that it happens in faraway places, like war-torn countries in the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, or Eastern Europe. Few can imagine that slaves are brought into the U.S. to work in restaurants, factories, and sexually oriented businesses (SOBs to those in the know). In fact, across the country, tens of thousands of people are being held captive today. Depending on whom you ask, Houston is either the leading trafficking site in the U.S. or very near the top, along with Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans, and New York City.
“Decompensation” is a fancy psychiatric term for when a person falls completely apart, which is what happened to Kiki in March 2006. She took an overdose of pills and landed back at the psychiatric hospital, where this time doctors diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. According to the application for emergency detention, Kiki was paranoid and claimed that she wanted to die. When one of the nurses tried to talk to her, she just said, “People are mean in America.”
What do you think? What is your reaction to this article? There are victims of trafficking all over this country. People are being held in slavery. They are being abused, exploited, sexually assaulted, psychologically terrorized, forcibly addicted to drugs, and kept under caerful surveillance. Their lives are controlled by the traffickers.
This is not some distant problem happening in far away, impoverished places. Trafficking is happening HERE...NOW...There are tens of thousands of people enslaved today in the supposed "land of the free." But what kind of freedom could possibly exist when trafficking and sexual slavery are still all around us?
Just some food for thought. Want to learn more? Check out these books and documentaries on trafficking in the US:
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