A Blight on Humanity’s Soul
As I age, I find it much harder to watch scenes of violence on TV or in movies. That’s especially true of period dramas that depict Nazi atrocities or the abuses of slavery in 17th and 19th century America.
Slavery is flagrantly anti-human and degrading, a blight on humanity’s soul. It deserves the old-fashioned word, “abomination.” And isn’t it frightening to realize that we treated each other so inhumanly only 150 years ago?
Yes, it’s frightening, but slavery is much closer to us in time. Its modern term is “human trafficking” and though we may be in denial about it, it’s in our own back yard.
A 30-something couple from a Des Moines suburb last year has been accused of kidnapping a 20-year-old woman, torturing her, threatening her and her family with death and transporting her to Virginia where they sexually assaulted her and forced her into prostitution. The two are being prosecuted on federal charges of sex trafficking and transportation of a person for prostitution.
An attitude adjustment
The case was a shocker for many Iowans who consider the state to be relatively peaceful and secure. A few weeks ago, however, I attended a meeting in which Michael Ferjak from the state attorney general’s office made a presentation on human trafficking. It was an “attitude adjustment.”
It turns out that “agriculture” is one of the principal industries for which people are trafficked. Besides farm workers, nannies, immigrants, children and the mentally disabled are frequently trafficked, and teen “throwaways” – kids whose parents kick them out of the house – are also often victims. Ferjak said there are 500 throwaways a year in Iowa, and many end up trafficked by people who take advantage of their vulnerability.
The result of abuse of these teens is unambiguous. “When abuse begins,” he said, “development ends.”
Traffickers use Craig’s list and events like the state fair to do business. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of trafficking victims are women and children.
So what does this have to do with the goal of this blog – to help people searching for God?
As Much About Doing
Just that faith is as much about doing, and not doing, as about belief; as much about how we treat each other as about prayer; as much about healing social ills as about going to church. In my opinion, you can’t genuinely search for God without developing a social conscience.
In imitation of the God we seek, we must be on the side of goodness and kindness, compassion and justice. Practices like human trafficking are violations of basic justice and can’t solicit a mere “ho-hum” from people searching for God.
“Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery, and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit human beings for some type of labor or commercial sex purpose,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. “Victims are often lured with false promises of well-paying jobs or are manipulated by people they trust, but instead are forced or coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, farm or factory labor, or other types of forced labor.”
3,646 Cases a Year
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center says 3,646 cases of trafficking were reported in the U.S. in the first six months of this year, 32 in Iowa.
So what can we do, practically, to combat human trafficking? First, said Ferjak, be aware and make others aware of the problem. Second, if you see anything that appears to be an incident of trafficking, call 911 and “tell them what you see,” or call 866-347-2423 (toll free) or report it online at www.ice.gov/tips. Third, since God-seekers are people of prayer, we can pray for the victims and for a change of heart by the perpetrators.
Pope Francis recently visited a refugee center in Rome that houses people rescued from prostitution and spoke with 20 women rescued from sexual slavery. According to America Magazine, “all suffered severe physical abuse during their ordeals and are living under protection.”
The Pope, who has been outspoken on the subject, calls trafficking and slavery “a crime against humanity’ and “an open would on the body of contemporary society.”
