On slavery, priorities, virtues and vices

It's still percolating in me, this notion that slavery is in my own town in the form of child sex trafficking.  I have wondered which starfish to rescue and the answer is clearer.  

If you know about slavery in your town, can you remain complacent?  Can you NOT act?   So many things wrong in our world -- our own bodies (are we as fit and healthy as we should be?), our home, our families, our homes, our neighborhoods, our communities, our nation.   I guess we all have our own priorities on what to work on fixing.  

I guess you can be against something (like injustice) and for something (like justice) without throwing your heart, voice, time and money at it.  

I must remember this.   We all are working to make the world better in some way or another, and my ways are not the only ways.   There is probably a sin of pride and virtue of humility involved in this. 

I am going to work on trafficking, community building, and my health (that fitness thing) at once by participating in a fundraising run to benefit the local center that helps victims of sexual assualt. 

Peace and justice, y'all

Molly

Sex trafficking - fighting slavery, part 4

Last night I viewed the movie Sex + Money.  It was disturbing.  When is prostitution voluntary and when is it slavery?  Perhaps the difficulty in finding that dividing line is why the term "trafficking" is used now.  Sex between consenting adults is one thing.  Sex between a child and an adult is something different, and it is illegal as well as morally reprehensible. 

Sex trafficking is now the second most lucrative form of organized crime.  Unlike weapons or drugs, a girl can be sold over and over again. 

Most girls (and boys) who enter prostitution do so at the AVERAGE age of 12-13.  Often they are drugged, and while drugged, raped and photographed, and videoed.  If the girl tries to leave, she is threatened with more violence, and with the revelation of the photos and videos.

Girls (and boys) who are so entrapped are usually runaways, or more tragically, throwaways -- children whose parents reject them.  Sometimes, and more frequently recently, girls are the homey ho's of a gang.  Gangs are getting into the pimping business. 
Almost, almost always, the victims of sex trafficking were sexually abused  in their home of origin.
I learned last night sex trafficking takes place in every town in the nation.  It takes place in my little town. 
There are so many ways to stop this. 
1. Don't be a John (a customer, if the J word makes you flinch)
2. Don't sexually abuse a child
3. Don't have children you don't want to love and cherish and protect.
4. Don't use pornography (do you really think everyone in those pictures is over 18 and in this voluntarily?

Sharedhope is dedicated to fighting minor sex trafficking.  This group was featured in the Sex+Money film.   It has put out a report card to evaluate each of the United States.  My state got a "B".  

When our governor signs the 10 bills our legislature passed this last session, we may be in line for an A.  I certainly hope so. 

Why is it that if a man has child pornography or inappropriately touches a kid, he's prosecuted as a sex offender.  But if he pays for the service he's a john and he goes unpunished?  if anyone is "caught," it's the girl, who is thrown in jail for prostitution!

I'm very interested in the Swedish model which has decriminalized prostitution and CRIMINALIZED buying sex.  This protects the women and puts the penalty on the man.  This is unjust. 

Understanding that girls (and boys) are so badly abused, that they are kept hungry and off balance, a nonstop siege on their sense of selfworth, that they are beaten and raped, to profit one man and to pleasure another, is obscene.  It's evil. 

Thinking again about the starfish, I think the star I want to throw back is in my own town.  I will donate to the sexual abuse resource center and the shelter for runaway teens before the month ends.  I will ask the governor to sign those 10 new bills.  I will write a thank you note to my legislators for voting for them. 

Peace and justice, y'all

Molly

How to fight slavery,part 3

Talk about it!  (as I am doing right now)

Trafficking is the 21st century name for slavery.  I think the word slavery is clearer to most people. Also, think about the persons.  "Slaves" vs "traffickees?"  "trafficked persons?"  "Victims?"   I think the term slave is clearest and strongest.  "Victim" is accurate but not specific.  A victim can be many things besides a slave, sad to say.

I am still considering the fable of the starfish.  You know the one - the child throws the starfish back into the sea to save its life.  The old person points out it's impossible to save them all, so what's the point?  The child tosses one more into the sea and says, "it matters to that one."   Then the old person, and soon many others, join in and they do save all the starfish.

Which slave can I save, and how? 
Locally or far away?
Man (usually labor slavery), woman (domestics and sex slavery), or child (sex, military, and labor)? 

It distresses me to make these distinctions, to make a Sophie's Choice decision.  But there is no need to.  I save any slave I can.  If my words lead another to action, I'll never know which slave I helped.  I pray for this, BTW.   If I reject slave chocolate and lead others to as well, I am probaby helping African labor slaves.  Great!  If I give money to educate girls in Asia, perhaps I help keep a girl from becoming a sex slave. 

If I buy local and fair trade every chance I get, I can be much more confident my purchases are promoting justice and NOT supporting abusive practices, including slavery. 

Tonight a local service club that has taken up the anti-trafficking guantlet is showing a film called Sex+Money.  Doubtless when I go to bed tonight I will know more than I do right now, and will have something worthwhile to share in part 4.

Peace and justice, y'all

Molly

ways to combat slavery, part 2 (at least)

FREED.  That's the name of the group at the Bethel church I have allied with.   The mission:  To equip and mobilize the church to effectively make disciples as we work togethr to combat the area of human trafficking, local and globally.

Our ambition: to see every man, woman, and child freed from opppression as we
Free slaves
Restore and redeem surviviors and perpetrators with the love of Christ
Educate about education and its factors
Equip and connect Christ-followers to combat human trafficking
Demolish cultural strongholds that enable and perpetuate slavery.

I am not on board with every word of this, because it limits itself to Christ followers.  But I'm on board anyway. 

FREED partners with International Justice Mission.  Also with Agape International Missions and Shared Hope International.

Thinking about how to fight slavery from my home, these thoughts come to me
Pray

1. Visit websites like Interanational Justice Missions, and learn and follow their suggestions
2. Exercise those First Amendment rights and petition our government to take stronger actions
3. Open that checkbook (figuratively speaking) and donate to slavery-fighting groups and to charities that help displaced and distressed populations, near and far. 
4. Refrain from buying things that are not slavery free.

After I click the "publish post" button, I'm going to order fair trade chocolates, the little bites I ran out of last week.

Peace, y'all

Molly

ways to combat slavery. part 1?

I have reflected much recently about human trafficking and how to stop it.

(maybe it's wrong to call this "part 1" because I have written on this topic before. Well, I've been wrong once or twice before.)

It's comforting to know that this isolated Quaker is not alone in this quest - in my community, I have found allies in a Christian church, and in a Republican state senator who I usually disagree with strongly. It is wonderful to have allies!

Allies told me about a neat app for Iphone or Android called Free2Work, which gives a scorecard to companies and specific products. Divine Chocolate gets an A, by the way. Hershey's gets a D. How sad, considering the honorable history of the company when it was founded. Ditto Cadbury, which hurts me more because that's a Quaker company. Or, was.

www.slaveryfootprint.org has a survey to help identify the slavery in the supply line of what you buy. They have an app too - Free World. It requires Facebook to log in, however.

The Christian group is on fire. Full of Christian zeal. The group is called FREED. You can find it on facebook, of course. More on this later.

The troublesome truth God gave me during the prayer part of the last FREED meeting is this: Slavery can persist in a free and democratic society. 21st century United States proves this, since there are labor slaves and sex slaves in this nation.

That means - and this is hard for me -- Peace is NOT the answer to fighting slavery. Sure, it helps, because peace allows people to get on with their business and not be displaced, for example. And peaceful societies are less likely to conscript children for their wars.

Peace's sister Justice is the answer to slavery. Slavery is unjust. Therefore Justice is the answer.

I have dedicated much of my heart and time and self-identity to peacemaking. This is not wrong, but it won't end slavery, which is something I care about deeply.

If you want peace, work for justice - Pope Paul VI
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere - Martin Luther King
And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with your Lord ? Micah 6:6-8

So, God has been suggesting this to me for some time.  It took more focused prayer with the FREED group (in Quakerese, it was a popcorn meeting).  The humble part is hardest for me.  

I have more work cut out for me.

Peace (and Justice!), y'all

Molly

How to oppose slavery

There's a story about a little boy throwing star fishes into the sea. Someone points out that there are far too many stranded star fishes and he cannot save them all. What does his effort matter? The boy throws another back to the life-giving sea and says, "it matters for that one."

That's how I fee about fighting slavery. We must say no every way and every time we can.

My advice on fundraising is 1. Any time 2. Any one. 3. Any where. 4. Always 5.Ask. This is the five finger, one A per finger.

Putting these thoughts together, and anytime, anyway, anyone, always oppose slavery. If there's slavery in the chocolate DONT EAT IT. If there is slavery in the making of the clothing, DON'T WEAR IT. Never buy it either. If you don't know about it, that's one thing. But once you do, you must not enjoy the fruits of a slave's labor.

I miss chocolate. But I think of children denied school, forced to work long hours with dangerous machetes and heavy loads, beaten or neglected, sold for as little as $130, and I can't stomach the chocolate either.

I know there is slavery in the world. I don't know how to stop all of it and would sure like some suggestions!

Peace, y'all

Molly

On slavery in the 21st century

In the 21st century we call slavery 'human trafficking.' oh please. What's wrong with calling it something we all recognize? Slavery slavery slavery!

There was quite an outcry some yeas ago when it was revealed that some designer's clothing was made in overseas sweatshops. Where is the outcry over the abuse of children in cocoa production? How can one eat chocolate knowing it has cost some innocent child his freedom, safety, family, peace, and hope?

Something else I wonder about, is why don't descendants of American slaves speak out against 21st century slavery.

Slavery is hidden because it's wrong and evil. Today, we have all kinds of ways to shed light in dark corners. Let's reveal abuses wherever and whenever we can.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Peacemaking on Halloween

Here's what we gave out this Halloweeen.  We also gave the kids (except the under three crowd) a whistle.  We had a pile of them left ovr from a Halloween many years ago.  Oh how I hope my concern reaches not just the eyes but the heart of at least a few of the parents whose little ones came to our door on Halloween.  With more holidays approaching, there's lots more chocolate to buy or to bake, and most of it is tainted with child slavery.   If we know slavery is wrong and have banished it in our country, how is it OK to eat chocolate we KNOW has come from children who are starved, beaten, and denied what we all think childeren deserve?

Peace, y'all

Molly



Love thy neighbor

Yesterday I read Anthony Manousos's fine blog essay on ending torture. I reflected more on the evil of ongoing slavery. And the rancor of partisan politics in these final and vicious days of the campaign season is impossible to ignore. There is much evil in the world.

What if, what if peace prevailed in every heart? Roots of evil, I believe, are human vices. Greed, gluttony, fear. If we abstain from vice, the worst we might do is err, or act wrong due to oblivion.

My thinking went a little further and simplified it. Love thy neighbor. Treat him and her the way you want to be treated.

So simple, so profound. Could we overcome the evil, pain and suffering on our planet by simply loving our neighbors and practicing the golden rule?

Peace, y'all

Molly

Peacemaking on Halloween

I have a sweet idea for Halloween. I am in the phase of life of having little trick or treaters visit my home, not escorting one of those little duffers. I wince over the trash this holiday creates and the escalating decoration, plus the tragic waste of food--pumpkin is a food after all.

I learned recently about "reverse trick or treating." That's when kids give adults a small piece of fair trade chocolate taped to a card with the hard facts of child slavery in cocoa-growing areas.

I am going to order little pieces of fair trade chocolate and make my own card. It will say something like

Hey, parents! Did you know that most of the chocolate you child collects tonight was grown in tropical areas by slaves who are children just a few years older than your own precious child? Mainstream chocolate companies don't want to tell you that. Using disposable slaves keeps costs down and profits up. This little bit of chocolate was made by adult workers who have decent conditions and get a fair wage. Enjoy this morsel

Visit www. I'll find the websites .

How does that sound?

Happy Birthday Lucretia Mott

Lucretia Mott was a mother of the women's rights movement.

On January 3, 1793, Lucretia Coffin Mott was born. She was a Quaker, and back in those days, men and women treated each other far more equally than they did in the larger culture. Lucretia's leadings brought her to forefront of the anti-slavery movement. In that capacity she traveled to England for an anti-slavery convention. But she could not sit with the rest of the delegates because she was a woman!!! This made quite a stir, but that is another story.

It was here she met another Quaker lady, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The women decided they would have a women's rights convention along the lines of the anti-slavery convention, and in 1848 it materialized in Seneca Falls, NY. There she and others penned a "declaration of sentiments" based quite directly on the Declaration of Independence. This is considered the birth of the women's rights movement. But the Civil War loomed, and the larger issue of ending slavery took precedent.

Suffrage for women took a back seat to suffrage for blacks. Suffragists suppressed their pursuit of the vote to pursue basic freedoms for blacks. The fifteenth amendment gave black men the right to vote.

Then suffragists pursued the vote for women. Quaker ladies - Mott, Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul--led these efforts. In college I attended Meeting in Gainesville Fl. The meeting had an old, old man named Roy Anthony. And when he was a boy, he spent time with his cousin (or aunt) Susan B. So I am one person removed from this other great Quaker lady.

I am proud (uh oh! grateful, grateful) of the Quakers of the past. Quakers found the truth of the evils of slavery much sooner than other Americans. They led the anti-slavery movement. They led the suffrage movement. What next?

What can any of us do if we have righteous passion? Then link up with others of the same nature. And move mountains? At least move part of the universe along in the right direction.

Peace, y'all

Molly