Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery

Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery

When we as American think of slavery, we don’t think of it still happening in our own country or our own backyards, but it does. It doesn 't only happen in America, but all over the world. Though it is more common in countries like India, it’s not very known in this day and age in America. If you ask most people about slavery or human trafficking most people will mention something that has gone and passed.

In the United States, human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for one of the following purposes: Labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage,

Fueled by depressive economies and limited opportunities, without serious intervention, the black-market industry that has arisen will only continue to thrive. Increasing demands for slaves and low cost labor has set up a massive economic opportunity for traffickers (Farrell, 2016). In large cities many people are moving around and most hours of the day that it can easily be looked over and not noticed. Traffickers or pimps are not dumb, they are very well educated and know how to hide or get around laws so that their business will not busted or figured out. Many brands also do a form of human trafficking, they send their materials overseas to sweat shops where children and women are paid less than a dollar a day to make products like Nike apparel and shoes, Patagonia clothing, and many other brands. Large businesses send their hands on work overseas because many people will work for such a cheap wage. A lot of women fall for situations like this because of the young ages or times in their life they’re vulnerable to anything or anyone who says that they are willing to

It’s very scary to read these stories and think that it could happen to anyone if the traffickers just play it out to make the victim hear just what they need or want to hear. I think we also need to stand up and help fight for a better life for these victims.

I think some of the best ways we could help these people in need of our help would be to set up more shelters for them to escape to in every city, learn and become educated about how serious the problem really is, volunteer and work in local shelters, and know the signs of people who are being trafficked. A big tool that the pimps use is social media, young men and women are so influenced by the media and fitting in that it is very easy for pimps to convince young girls to listen to them. “To understand all aspects of sex trafficking in the United States, you have to open your mind and let go of what you have seen or heard on television. You need to let go of the media’s portrayal of the “joys” of street