Human Trafficking an American Atrocity
Human Trafficking is a criminal enterprise that affects everyone in trucking. Children are kidnapped and forced to sell sex in truck stops every day. If you really believe in freedom please visit www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org to discover how you can be a part of the effort to stop this horrendous action in America. The three largest criminal behaviors in order are Illegal Drug Trades, Illegal Arms Trades, and Human Trafficking. The illegal drug trades are the worse, because it yields the highest in revenue and eludes to the perpetuation of the later two. The illegal arms trade should hit home for the most of us, because this is what threatens your 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms. You don't really think gangs and organized criminals are going to the local gun shop and buying up all the AK47's and the ammo to go with them do you? No, there is a black market arms trade for this. Human Trafficking is really heart breaking. Young girls and boys go missing in America every day. They are kidnapped off the streets and sold as commodity and transported around the U.S as sex slaves, sometimes they are forced to prostitute in the very truck stops we sleep in every night. That knock on your door isn't just some stupid lot lizard, it's a loved one that has gone missing and their families are worried sick about them. The trafficking industry is a lot more complicating than this, some people are distributed all over the world. In fact it is a world epidemic, increasingly so. Facts about trafficking: It is a 9 billion dollar a year industry Human trafficking is non discriminatory to race, gender,age, or social status. It can happen to anyone. 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk of becoming victims to human trafficking Victims are physically abused to obtain submission. They suffer from broken bones and head injuries then forced back to the streets to work. Drugs may be used as a means to Control them. They are told that if they try to escape that they or their family members are going to get hurt or killed. An estimated 27 million people are being trafficked around the world, 13 million of them are children. It's estimated that 80% of victims are sex slaves while 19% are used for labor. The health risk is terrible for victims. A high percentage of sex slaves will contract HIV and other STD's. The U.S. is one of the top three destinations in the world. New York, California, Texas, and Nevada are the primary destination states in the U.S. The U.S. Government only provides 68.7 million dollars a year to combat human trafficking. Of that only 18 - 20 million dollars stays in the U.S. to combat human trafficking domestically. You can help to stop this heinous action by reporting suspicious behavior on the national hotline at 888-373-7888. Your help is important. A statement from Kylla Lanier at truckersagainsttrafficking.org: August 8, 2012 at 8:07 am We at Truckers Against Trafficking are also wanting to promote to the general public that the image of truckers has been wrong. In movies, television shows, and the like, truckers have been portrayed as uneducated, prostitute seeking, crude people. We know that, while every profession has its bad characters, the majority of truckers are indeed hard working family people who believe in God, country and honor. Our mission at TAT is to educate, empower, equip and mobilize the trucking industry to combat human trafficking and the reality of many of these so called “lot lizards.” Studies on prostitution show that a solid 80% have been raped and molested as children…perfectly conditioning them to be preyed upon by pimps and abusers. Those with pimps, who are truly slave owners, since they live off the ill-gotten earnings of their “property” are forced to make a quota or suffer dire beatings from their pimps. Many are given drugs by their pimps whether they want them or not, as pimps realize they can control these women better if they are addicted. And also, by this post and others like it (the post in question was a derogatory cartoon about "lot Lizards", not featured here), drug addiction helps to strip away any sympathy we might actually have for these women, preferring to call them lizards, reptiles, ho’s, etc who are looking to score, looking to rob, looking for a good time. It is easy to blame the women…after all, our society has us conditioned to blame the “slut” versus those who use her and abuse her. We have been told that they want to be there, that they love their pimps and just really like sex. But actually talking to these women outside of the pressures of meeting her quota tells quite a different story. Most were forced into it at a younger age, most have suffered beatings, addiction, fear and threats. Most have STDs, forced abortions, and a broken spirit. Most know nothing else other than abuse. I say, if we really want to give the trucking industry a new image, that we dispense with calling these women by names that are so dehumanizing. Let truckers be the heroes who call in and rescue them. Let truckers treat these girls and women like lost souls who may need some basic human compassion or victims who are desperate for someone to help them. We had a trucker do that just yesterday. We have heard reports of other truckers as well changing the way they view these girls and women and really viewing them as people who are messed up or hurting and in need of something other than disdain and hatred. These truckers are making calls, saving lives, and realizing that people are people…and sometimes we need to look past the horrible make-up, chipped nails, promiscuous clothes and speech, and see the person. First easy step…stop calling them lot lizards and all the other choice terms that have been outlined here in this article. Second step, educate yourself about the life of trafficking victims and those who are prostituted. http://www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org The image of truckers will change…is changing…but blaming everything on “lot lizards” don’t help. A blog segment I wrote for Truckers Against Trafficking: Trucker to Trucker July 15, 2014 From Professional Truck Driver John Grosvenor Honor and Valor 22 years ago when I started driving big trucks, I witnessed a 379 Peterbilt parked in the back of a truck stop in Michigan. A large group of teenage girls (not of consenting age) emerged from that truck and started “working” the truck stop. They appeared to be directed by a middle-aged Asian woman. Many years later I stopped at a travel plaza in West Virginia. When I parked my truck I sat there staring at a man who looked out of place. Later, I was in the food court sitting in a booth next to 2 young women (minors) who were having lunch, when suddenly this man arrived and commanded one of them away, making her leave her lunch at the table. I was appalled at what I was seeing, but I didn't know exactly what to do at the time. Throughout the years I have seen a lot of prostitution. It's my observation that it's not too often that you see someone working under the control of others, But it doesn't mean that they aren't. It just means that handlers don't necessarily like to be seen. They don't need to be on site due to their brutal coercion tactics. Just the same, not all people are working by force, but that doesn't exclude that there is a sickness involved. One 60 year-old women tried to solicit herself to me in Las Vegas, Nevada to support her gambling addiction. With others it's drug addiction. No matter what the reason, when someone pays for sex with a prostituted person, that money goes to support sickness and usually ends up in the hands of criminals or in organized crime. The United States was founded on the principles of high standards and values; that everyone has the right to the pursuit of happiness. There is no happiness in slavery to another person or slavery to addiction. The fact that the Federal Government has failed to stop the 3 worst crimes in America, illegal drug trafficking, illegal arms trafficking, and human trafficking that plague the people of our country, means that it behooves the American people to take action by whatever legal means possible to stop this atrocity. Innocent children are kidnapped every day off the streets of good and rough neighborhoods and forced into prostitution. This can only continue when good men don't have the honor and valor to stand up against the greater evil. Consider this, there is a ratio of 245 law enforcement officers to 100,000 people in the United States and only 10 percent of the criminals are incarcerated. That's a lot of criminals overwhelming the law enforcement community. In order to achieve the goal of eliminating human trafficking, we as a society of people need to get involved to assist the law enforcement officers of our country. The FBI uses the info we give to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center tip hotline number when we call 888-373-7888 and report what we are seeing. They use the tips to help inform their national raids and rescues. However, we can do more! We as drivers have other tools that can be utilized to help prevent this sort of crime. Cell phones take great pictures that can be used to document what's going on and help to identify perpetrators of human trafficking; whether it's pimps or individuals paying for the services of human trafficking. The C.B. radio is still a useful tool when you witness activities in truck stops you may inform others that you are opposed to such activities and will be documenting it with pictures, truck numbers, and DOT numbers to inform their employer and law enforcement of any criminal activity that a person may be involved in. Even if you have no intention on following through with it, it gives you an opportunity to create a conversation to promote awareness of human trafficking. Thought has a contagious quality and by communicating with each other we can create unity in the trucking community. Murder is a terrible crime, to break a person’s spirit is spiritual murder. That is what perpetrators do when they engage in human trafficking. It is my hope that my fellow drivers can bring themselves to act with honor and valor if the time comes for them to do so. © Truckers United For Freedom 2013 |