The practice of slavery in the US is something most people think ended with the 13th Amendment in 1865, but in recent years it has returned in an even more virulent form. Fueled by the collapse of the Soviet Union and other eastern European countries, new technologies like the internet, and sieve-like borders, the traffic in human beings has become an epidemic of colossal dimensions. The State Department estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked over international frontiers each year, largely for sexual exploitation. Eighty percent are female and over fifty percent are minors. Many people in this country push this atrocity out of their minds, believing that it only occurs in faraway countries like Thailand, Cambodia, the Ukraine and Bosnia. The truth is that the United States has become a large-scale importer of sex slaves. Free the Slaves, America's largest anti-slavery organization estimates that at least 10,000 people a year are smuggled or duped into this country by sex traffickers.
As many of you know I am passionate about abolishing the human trafficking of girls around the world. This movie, Trade, is opening in selected theaters Friday September 28th. Please go see it and learn about this heinous crime that is almost too horrific to even acknowledge. Here is a link to the trailer: http://www.tradethemovie.com/index.html# . The movie stars Academy Award winner Kevin Kline.
For more information on human trafficking: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/FreeToCreate.aspx
I'm going to see the movie in Santa Fe next week. Please let me know what you thought of the movie.
"We are focusing on bringing the stories of these women to the world. These stories must be told if we are going to stop this from happening again." ~ Eve Ensler.
The Audacious Abolitionist,
Karen
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