Last Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 7:00 pm, I attended an event that took place in the lounge of Syme Residence Hall where information about modern day slavery and human trafficking was shared and discussed, relating exactly to what we were discussing in class that week. I like many think that it’s sick that slavery can still exist in the year 2013 in many ways in many different places around the world. Here in the U.S. in our western way of thinking we are accustomed to believing that slavery is over because growing up we are only taught about the African slave trade that took place but was then abolished. Though probably not as prevalent as in some other locations of the world forms of human trafficking actually still exists here in the states. Specific cases and forms of how slavery has been used to produce many items that we buy can be found on different websites such as http://slaveryfootprint.org/. There is a great chance that many items we all own and wear has at some point along the production line passed some form of slavery. It is estimated that there are 27 million slaves around the world today and there is great possibility that this is actually greater than this number because of unknown cases. That is more than the entire African slave trade in which we know of. How the hell does this happen and why does it still exist? It is unfair to all these people, in which some were born into these situations contradicting what is stated first of all in the universal declaration, that their natural human rights are being violated. They are forced to work fields, factories, perform sexual activities, etc. and are treated poorly in these illegal forms of producing goods and services that many individuals of the first world or global north use every day for convenience. Some victims have no way of escaping, surviving, or providing for their families otherwise. That is such a large number of people for just this one problem and combined with an endless number of other issues in this pitiful world it overwhelms and can lead to some becoming hopeless and ask how in the world can we ever save the world? It damn sure cannot all be fixed in this lifetime but we can at least start with a combined effort to get things going and set up good habits for future generations. The problem is that human nature is too selfish for things such as sustainable development and such traditionalists in living in a mind sets to do things the way they have always been done and survival of the fittest. We should all be equal in humanity and appreciate each other instead of this competition BS in industries and need to find new ways (which we are very well smart enough and capable of doing) of producing some of these items that take advantage of slavery. We all with a combined effort have to also be willing to give up materialistic things that support and continue to empower such practices. There has to be some other way of doing things and still being as productive and convenient of a society. Unselfish sacrifices need to be made for the future.
Resources to help fight human trafficking include: Polaris Hotline 1-888-373-7888, NC Stop Now, International Justice Mission … know some of the physical indicators and many type of places that human trafficking may occur in which we learned include massage parlors, nail salons, truck stops, and *rest areas! If anything seems suspicious like little kids looking lost or something then contact the hotline …
Superman-Dash 