For so long now I have been completely content with living in a bubble. You may think how is that even possible these days with so many means of getting information but it's really not that hard. All you have to do is change the channel every time the news come on and never pick up a newspaper and never look at anything news related online. This is all made it very easy a specially the fact that I almost only watch TV online or on our DVR. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I needed to catch up a bit with all that was being said, as far as the Presidential Candidates goes. So I started checking the news updates I get sent to my work email account and since I was already reading them I figured I'd read it all rather than just the campaign stuff. I never thought I was going to find something so outrageous and completely unacceptable, something so horrible that it would shake me to the core. It broke my heart and left me in complete shock. Then I got angry, that it could even be possible, that this was happening. Nothing could have prepared me for what I found.
What I found was a world I didn't want to know existed. A world of pain and suffering and abuse. A world where the strong prey on the weak and the poor. Where the wealthy use their money to make promises, to the poor, of freedom and a better life and of education and happiness but they are empty promises that will never come true. I found a world that allowed you to pick and choose the race, age, gender, and physical features of your own personal slave. Not just someone who works in your field and cleans your house but someone you can rape and abuse daily. For a moment I thought I had traveled through time to another place where this was a social norm but I didn't. I kept thinking, "This must be some sort of nightmare. There's no way, not here in the US." But with much sadness in my heart I had to accept that here, yes even in the Houston area there have been cases of Slavery in the past few years. I still didn't want to believe it was true so I began to dig for more answers and I found more devastating stories and heartbreak but I also found hope.
Hope has several names many of which I do not know, but the one that I first heard of was Shauna Newell a 16 year old (at the time), US citizen who was abducted and raped for days before being found. Before when we (or should I say I) heard of slavery and human trafficking it was always in another country but not here, not in the U.S. WRONG! We were so wrong, I was so wrong. I was wrong to think that the U.S. was exempt from the horrors that plague the world. I was wrong to think that we were the exception, that no one would come and corrupt us, cause they already have. The next name of hope I heard was David Batstone a brave man that, since he first heard of the increasing slave market, has been fighting against the imprisonment of the innocent. He, along with his team for warriors, have begun Not For Sale, a movement of abolitionist (I can't believe I just said that, who would have thought I'd be talking about abolitionist in 2008). They have made great strides to further the knowledge of the general population about slavery and in demanding that brand name companies take a stand and not use slave labor to make the things that you and I use and wear everyday. Next I heard the name Call+Response which is basically composed of artist and activist that are stating that they will not stand for the mistreatment of other human beings. In fact they created a move called "Call+Response" and it's out in theaters now, you can check out the website for locations. The last name I heard so far is MTV Exit a project that was made to bring awareness to all those who will listen. Angelina Jolie has teamed with MTV in this and they are making a huge splash. They are reaching young people that other wise would have probably never known that slavery still exist today. So many adults think that MTV is just garbage but I have seen that they have helped so many good causes and are constantly working to inform people of the truth and that is something we can all aspire to. There are so many many others that are out there fighting for the rights of people everywhere and as much as I'd like to I can not name them all. I can only hope to do as much good in my life time as they have done thus far.
