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<\/p>\nPor Dave Schwab<\/p>\n
\nThe fifth annual Human Trafficking Awareness Rally, held Jan. 13 at Balboa Park, dragged the ugly crime of sex trafficking out of the shadows and into the light.<\/p>\n
The rally drew a host of local, federal and state legislators, attorneys, social workers, law enforcement agents and concerned citizens, all bent on educating \u2014 and eradicating \u2014 human trafficking.Human trafficking includes everything from forcing people into prostitution, to subjecting them to slavery or involuntary servitude.<\/p>\n
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The FBI has named San Diego as one of the nation\u2019s top 13 areas with the highest rates of child sex trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years we\u2019ve tackled a lot of different issues from domestic violence to illiteracy to child obesity,\u201d said Rachel Thompson, president of Junior League of San Diego. The Junior League is a network of female civic leaders working with community partners to address pressing social issues, and they co-sponsored the human-rights event.<\/p>\n
Thompson headed a list of speakers at the rally, which was immediately followed by women hoisting signs with slogans such as, \u201cNot in our city,\u201d and \u201cEnd modern-day slavery,\u201d and marching through Balboa Park.\u201cAbout five years ago, we discovered a couple of other unmet needs,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cOne was the plight of youth transitioning out of the foster care system, who are disproportionately more likely to become victims of human trafficking. That is how we got started in this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Characterizing human trafficking as a \u201cserious epidemic in our community,\u201d Thompson added, \u201cIt was a natural fit for us [Junior League] to take this issue and bring it into the light, joining with all our community partners here today. We\u2019re raising our voices, and marching, to spread the word about human trafficking, and making our community more aware of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Martin Luther King weekend, we are reminded of the fight for justice and equality, and how important this effort [opposing trafficking] is,\u201d said Rep. Susan Davis, a Democrat who represents District 53. \u201cI\u2019m always shocked that there are between 8,000 and 11,000 victims of human trafficking right here in San Diego.<\/p>\n
What can we do, what can our workplaces do, what can people do?\u201d Davis asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n
The Congress member cited teachers as one occupation that needs to be more aware of sex trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we focus on is empowering our teachers to learn and know the signs,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThey might be looking at a young woman in their classroom every day. She gets to school late every day, especially after the weekend. She looks like she\u2019s really tired. But they are actually suffering because they\u2019re being trafficked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis concluded money is essential to fighting sex trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to have the resources to do something about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan sent a message that \u201ceach one of us needs to care about exploited and enslaved people. \u2026 The time is really now to stand up and to stamp out exploitation and slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that human traffickers are \u201chiding in plain view, hiding behind phones and posing as friends,\u201d the district attorney said there are many \u201cdiabolical methods\u201d used by traffickers to recruit their victims.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, there is someone in some hotel in San Diego being sold like they were a piece of pizza,\u201d Stephan said. \u201cThere\u2019s a woman trying to put food on the table as a janitor who is being sexually abused; but she\u2019s afraid to tell someone because she doesn\u2019t have all the right immigration papers. There are boys being abused on camera and sold to pornographers. As long as those exist \u2014 our fight must continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, who was also on hand, shared that he is a single parent with two daughters ages 13 and 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tucked them in last night and one of them had a stuffed animal she was sleeping with in bed,\u201d he said. \u201cGirls of that age are being trafficked. It\u2019s an American tragedy, and it has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maienschein has sponsored AB 1791, which strengthens penalties for human trafficking crimes involving minors.<\/p>\n
Jamie Quient, president of Free to Thrive \u2014 an organization that empowers survivors of human trafficking by providing them with legal services and connecting them to other supportive services \u2014 talked about clearing victims\u2019 arrest records.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurvivors of trafficking shouldn\u2019t forever be degraded by being labeled as criminals,\u201d Quient said, who also described the victims of trafficking as \u201cthe most driven people I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quient said that when she asks most reclaimed trafficking victims what they\u2019d most like to do, they say they wish to use their personal experience to help other victims.<\/p>\n
Ex-Marine Joseph Travers, executive director of Saved in America \u2014 a nonprofit involving insured private investigators who locate missing and runaway children \u2014 said the objective of combating sex trafficking is to catch violators, and their potential victims, early.\u201cWe\u2019re trying to prevent runaways from getting caught in sex trafficking, and we\u2019ve rescued 57 of them since 2014,\u201d Travers said. \u201cOut of the 57 rescues, 40 percent of them were actually involved in trafficking in one form or another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travers talked about one trafficking victim, Brittany, who didn\u2019t make it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cA gang member pimp befriended her and took her across state lines where he raped and murdered her,\u201d Travers said. \u201cWhat we want to do here today, with you and I as partners, is to make sure that never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you see something, say something. To get involved with the nonprofits mentioned in this story, visit jlsd.org<\/a>, savedinamerica.org<\/a> o freetothrive.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n