The extent to which human trafficking is prevalent and takes place in plain sight is alarming. People assume that people who are trafficked for sex are adults simply taken and work the streets. This idea is overly simplistic. The average child who is taken for sex trafficking is between the ages of 12 and 14. Not only that, but one in three runaway teens will be lured towards prostitution after leaving home. (More stats can be found here).

It is also necessary to dispel that myth that only females are trafficked, men are trafficked as well (even for sex). Another misconception is that only foreigners are trafficked, but this can also happen to native United States citizens. Human trafficking has fallen off the radar as a political issue for many people. It is interesting to consider that in the United States we have a victim-centric view of trafficking; we easily overlook the traffickers or even the “Johns” who create the demand for it.

What is even more alarming is the fact that many of us have contributed to demand for human labor trafficking; take, for example, the shirts available at Wal-Mart for $5 or goods created in sweatshops for corporations such as Nike. There are easy ways to avoid human trafficking goods, such as by buying fair trade products, and if people really need to purchase cheap goods, thrift shops or used clothing stores can be great alternatives to reduce the demand for these goods. Human trafficking is a prevalent global issue, and if we remain unaware consumers, we can easily perpetuate demand for such goods; but if we remain aware, we can help to reduce the demand for trafficking.

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2012/08/18/photographing-modern-day-slavery/

I had the opportunity to attend Anthony Talbott’s lecture on Monday night. His efforts to stop human trafficking in Ohio are inspiring. Talbott focused on raising awareness among citizens; it is through education that citizens are able to take the first step towards eradicating human trafficking. Further, he stressed that human trafficking is modern day slavery; victims may not be physically chained, but they are bound to traffickers who take away their identification and legal documents.

Talbott provided startling statistics about modern day human trafficking: about 27 million slaves exist in the world today, 200 thousand of which are enslaved in the US. Despite these mind-blowing facts, there have been very few convictions of traffickers and a dismal amount of victims recovered.

Anthony Talbott, as a resident of Ohio, focuses on human trafficking within the state. The main reasons Ohio is such a large hub for human trafficking activity is attributed to the following: extensive and well developed highway systems, large population of minority groups, close proximity to major metropolitan cities, and the large amount of strip clubs (where many illegal activities occur, including trafficking).

It is the responsibility and of all global citizens to raise awareness about the global pandemic that is human trafficking. Though the facts are frightening, it is necessary to educate our peers. The first step to eradicating human trafficking is to raise awareness of the issue at hand. From there, educated constituents can lobby their Congressional representatives to introduce and pass legislation creating programs for victims of human trafficking, programs to investigate or identify key areas of human trafficking, or educational programs about the signs of human trafficking. Further, individuals can take action by being aware consumers—avoid purchasing cheap clothing made in foreign countries, buy second hand, and buy fair trade. The point: try to reduce you inadvertent support of forced labor.

I had the opportunity to attend Anthony Talbott’s lecture on Monday night. His efforts to stop human trafficking in Ohio are inspiring. Talbott focused on raising awareness among citizens; it is through education that citizens are able to take the first step towards eradicating human trafficking. Further, he stressed that human trafficking is modern day slavery; victims may not be physically chained, but they are bound to traffickers who take away their identification and legal documents.

Talbott provided startling statistics about modern day human trafficking: about 27 million slaves exist in the world today, 200 thousand of which are enslaved in the US. Despite these mind-blowing facts, there have been very few convictions of traffickers and a dismal amount of victims recovered.

Anthony Talbott, as a resident of Ohio, focuses on human trafficking within the state. The main reasons Ohio is such a large hub for human trafficking activity is attributed to the following: extensive and well developed highway systems, large population of minority groups, close proximity to major metropolitan cities, and the large amount of strip clubs (where many illegal activities occur, including trafficking).

It is the responsibility and of all global citizens to raise awareness about the global pandemic that is human trafficking. Though the facts are frightening, it is necessary to educate our peers. The first step to eradicating human trafficking is to raise awareness of the issue at hand. From there, educated constituents can lobby their Congressional representatives to introduce and pass legislation creating programs for victims of human trafficking, programs to investigate or identify key areas of human trafficking, or educational programs about the signs of human trafficking. Further, individuals can take action by being aware consumers—avoid purchasing cheap clothing made in foreign countries, buy second hand, and buy fair trade. The point: try to reduce you inadvertent support of forced labor.

Overall, I am very happy that I had the opportunity to attend such a fun and informative talk. The information I’ve garnered from the joint FYS classes and Anthony Talbott’s lecture has made me more aware of the issue that is human trafficking. Hopefully, over time and with the education of citizens, the threat of (and demand for) human trafficking will decrease.

Overall, I am very happy that I had the opportunity to attend such a fun and informative talk. The information I’ve garnered from the joint FYS classes and Anthony Talbott’s lecture has made me more aware of the issue that is human trafficking. Hopefully, over time and with the education of citizens, the threat of (and demand for) human trafficking will decrease.

Anthony Talbott’s talk on trafficking made some significant points. One of the points he made that stuck the most was that a person does not have to be moved or transported to another place to fit the definition of being or having been trafficked. He explained that a person qualifies as being trafficked if they are exploited by force, fraud or coercion. This became significant because this means that trafficking can be a form of domestic violence. This contributes significantly to the difficulty of fighting human trafficking. Behind the doors and window shades of someone’s house, no one can see one person screaming threats at another person when they won’t do something, or see another person beating someone else if something wasn’t done up to par. Nobody hears the lies one person tells another for a purpose of exploitation. No one but the victim feels the fear as result of lies told to them. No one but the victim can imagine what might happen if they call a bluff on those lies. These crimes are almost impossible to see and even more impossible to try and prove.

Anthony Talbott talked of how human traffickers are unfortunately smart in a way and good at what they do. Traffickers can do simple things that make prosecution very difficult. One of the simplest things traffickers who exploit people for labor is they pay them a miniscule amount so people can’t claim they weren’t paid. Proving exploitation of persons is nigh impossible because those exploited ended up with a form of a contract and were paid, so when it comes to enforcing the law, you can’t. This major difficulty in fighting trafficking isn’t even the first difficulty to overcome. In order to even have a chance at prosecuting traffickers officials need evidence to go arrest them. Many times this comes from a tip which doesn’t happen often or from a previous victim. Many times these victims don’t come forward. Anthony Talbott discussed that many victims of sex trafficking don’t come forward because they end being prosecuted. He further explained that even after a victim may have gotten away or have been rescued, they have to be rehabilitated in sense and re-introduced into society. People who are trafficked are vulnerable because of economic reasons and family reasons most of the time. After victims are trafficked they are still vulnerable for the same reasons and often end up being trafficked again. Fighting trafficking is very difficult because victims are many times afraid to come out and traffickers are good at protecting themselves against the law.

It’s truly amazing what an impact just an hour and a half can have on your life. After listening to Professor Anthony Talbott speak Monday about “Organizing for Social Change,” I caught myself pondering ‘hidden atrocities’ all over the world, particularly those in Ohio where most of us currently reside.

When you look at a someone, what do you see? Many answer this question with physical features, characteristics, or known facts and memories. Imagine seeing a price tag.

http://www.naomirathbun.com/gallery/human-barcode/

Many people are blind to the idea of modern day slavery—but human trafficking is slavery. Twenty-seven million. That is the estimated number of slaves within the world today. Twenty-seven million humans, just like you and me, are coerced and deceived into situations in which they work without pay. Twenty-seven million people around the world are deprived of their basic human rights and lack access to the help they desperately need to get out of the horrific situation in which they are caught.

Throughout Professor Talbott’s lecture, many things went through my head, but the one thought that resonated was, “I want to make a difference. I want to make a change.” It is inspiring to see real evidence of students in the same positions as us, successfully petitioning for change. Often times I find myself thinking that there is no possible way to truly make a change; but, as Professor Talbott stated, “Together, we have the power to affect change. Individuals can come together and make a difference.”

The power of education carries a lot of weight in instances like this. As proper training on human trafficking becomes more widely available and accessible, more and more victims lives are being saved. The capabilities of education on this issue, especially when it comes to law enforcement officials having the proper knowledge and training, have already proved successful and impactful in Ohio. The reach of this education needs be to extended—this simple step needs to be taken, because in the end, it will help save thousands of lives.

It’s interesting to see how, in just less than two hours, what was once a casual thought can become an invested interest. In this case, it all laid right in the title, “Organizing for Social Change.” There are many steps that an individual can take to help eradicate human trafficking from society; begin by visiting http://abolitionohio.org/.

When grappling with such a large issue as human trafficking, it is easy to get carried away with global issues and stories of people living in very different conditions from us. In discussing every aspect of trafficking that needs to be addressed (the roles of suppliers and consumers, recovery for victims, etc.), deciding where to start can be challenging. Professor Talbott touched on this at the end of his talk, and it was reinforced in his next discussion with Dan Archer: even small actions put this issue on the path toward change.

When deciding where we can influence the matter of human trafficking, we must first look at our role in the international economy as consumers. Continually making conscious, informed decisions in our purchases makes a small impact on the market, but it reminds us to stay vigilant about the issue, including new ways in which traffickers are avoiding laws and ways in which we might counter them. This lifestyle decision also alerts other consumers, like family and friends, to global issues.

Second, taking action in our own communities, whether through voting, reaching out to legislators, or volunteering time with aid organizations, makes a more immediate impact. Although we might not be able to help those picking strawberries in Eastern Europe directly, we are certainly privileged enough in Ohio to seek out educational opportunities and discover which groups can be helped right in our own back yard.

I found Sarah Mckinnon’s paper to be very interesting and engaging, though I my biggest complaints came from the moments she stopped reading to address the audience. One point that I found interesting was the recurring argument of men’s rights over women. This seemed to be a theme throughout the paper, mainly in talking about how Chinese men would apply for asylum in their wives’ names.

Another theme of the paper I found interesting was that of immigration. Many people today think of immigration as being almost solely contained to the southern border. However, as Mckinnon pointed out, this was and is not always the case. The United States has always had a sizeable population of Immigrants from Asia, and especially from China. In fact, immigration from China was once such a hot button issue that the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, and even today many asylum seekers from China are regarded with suspicion. This also highlights another misconception of immigration and minorities in general that many people have. This is the misconception that discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans is either non-existent or severely limited in its scope. The common perception is that all or a majority of discrimination is aimed at blacks, arabs and latinos. However, Mckinnon repeatedly shows not only modern day examples of discrimination against the Chinese but also discusses older forms of discrimination such as the aforementioned Chinese Exclusion Act.

An interesting question of Mckinnon’s paper was that of the influence that women or a lack thereof has on a society’s culture and the way that other’s view that society. Mckinnon talks about the lack of women in early Chinese-American society and the way that it changed not only the Chinese society but also the way that Americans viewed the Chinese immigrants

When many people think of trafficking, the only thing that comes to their mind is the sexual exploitation of young women. While this is one form of human trafficking, it is far from the only form that is seen in the world. The graphic journal Borderlands, by Dan Archer, shows many different ways that humans are sold, and that it is very typically for labor as well. It contains true stories of people of all sexualities and races being tricked and exploited. I used to think that it was much harder for people who are stronger or smarter to be trafficked, but Archer included statistics that say otherwise. For example, “50% of those who get trafficked from Ukraine have been in higher education.” This shows that anyone can be targeted and used.

Not only can those who are smart be trafficked, the strongest of men can be as well. The story “Rublevka” is the only one in the journal that shows this happen to a man. The man was simply offered a job at a big construction site. Of all of the workers, he was the biggest so he thought that he would be able to take care of himself. He gets there and is immediately put to work. When he asks for pay they just say that it comes on completion, but readers know that completion will never come. This struck me because for weeks he was working as a slave and didn’t even understand that was the case or how he had gotten into that situation.

The image of the dacha is the only image that takes up an entire page in the entire journal. I also noticed that it was printed on inside of both the front and back covers. I feel that this is because this was an important image for Archer as well. It shows how easy it is for someone to be put into slavery and how trapped they are once in open sight. These mansions are in rich neighborhoods, but behind the scenes, the blood of the poor is building them. I feel that this panel showing slaves working on and building the dacha embodies this form of human trafficking and can shows that anyone can be put into this situation.

I was particularly struck by Evan’s question directed to Dan Archer. The question touched on the media’s gravitation to visual aids in the news, and how this potentially compromises the journalistic integrity behind the story. It was something that I had never explicitly thought about before, and made me question the media outlets with which I keep myself updated. Moreover, it made me look at the short-subject nature of Borderland in an entirely new light, especially compounded by the new information that Archer had a page limitation on the project.

Upon my initial reading, I was taken aback by how abruptly the stories ended, and how little time Archer spent with the victims of the stories. It made for the escalation of events surrounding the human trafficking seem that much more violent and powerful. After hearing that Archer had a limitation, however, it makes one wonder how different the structure of Borderland would be with the free reign that it sounds like Archer didn’t have. Would he have shown the victims more before or after the events, or would he have shown more brutality? In any case, the discomforting effect that Archer reaches in telling these stories in barely over five pages is palpable, truly instilling in the reader the exact feeling that he wanted.

Now, back to Evan’s question. Did Archer compromise any sort of journalistic integrity in visually powered creation? I don’t think so. My answer is related to what I previously stated about the hurried nature of the vignettes. What I associate with other media outlets that use visuals as their primary sources of news are images of disaster and heartbreak on the front page; pictures of anguish from a genocide or hurricane are some examples that come to mind. In Borderland, Archer largely deals in understatement, something that is used to great effect. The image of the girl getting physically assaulted in the orphanage is a striking example of this. In a series of panels, the girl goes from serene sleep to deep anguish as a man’s hand covers her mouth. That’s it, that’s all that Archer has to show to make his point. In creating Borderland, Archer enhances the statistics that are easy to lose track of by adding real, tangible anguish to them. Furthermore, those statistics are given on the page before each of the vignettes, allowing for the two disparate types of information to be given, and for their effect to be reached, on their own and to work together.

! From my perspective, one of the most intriguing ideas presented in the last two days of talks on human trafficking, was that Dan Archer had spent time peacefully interviewing traffickers themselves. While studying a topic as horrific as this one, it is difficult to find an unbiased perspective. While Archer’s perspective is far from unbiased, as his work is meant to help publicize and popularize the fight against trafficking, it is still quite the feat to accept the opinions and points of view of the criminals in question as valid towards understanding the issue.!

! In his presentation on monday, Anthony Talbot described the fight against human trafficking as an “unthinking movement”; that anyone would agree to help someone in this situation. In many ways this statement is true, there are very few people in the world who agree with child labor wholeheartedly, or would passively watch an underage prostitute be abused. But still every political, social, or moral issue is relative. On the personal-moral level, I do not believe I possess the gumption or stomach necessary to interview a perpetrator of human trafficking with the same composure and attitude that I would use whilst interviewing a victim. I have already made up my mind that a trafficker’s actions are inherently abhorrent, and could never accept their position in this market as valid and morally sound. Still, it must be noted that not everyone involved in the trade of human beings is evil at heart. As noted by both of our speakers, the motive behind this market is not the desire to hurt and disenfranchise vulnerable people, but rather to accrue an enormous profit in the process. This idea is easy to accept but difficult to fully understand. I am willing to bet that many traffickers were once in vulnerable positions themselves, and joined the trade to escape the same state of being as those whom they prey upon.!

! When Dan Archer first described his interviews with traffickers in Nepal, I was shocked that he would approach them at all. After some thought, I realized I had been projecting my own opinions and prejudices onto the topic. I had been Imagining his travels as something similar to war photography; hiding behind ruined structures, searching for survivors hiding in makeshift shelters, and avoiding the criminal traffickers at all costs. But the battlefield of human trafficking is no war zone, the crimes occur in hidden, semi-legal ways that do not disrupt the order of society. Perpetrators and victims of this trade live among us. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had met a few in my life. I

have definitely benefitted from the work of trafficking victims. I am not innocent of shopping at Target or H&M. Through ignorance of the injustices employed by major companies, our society has unknowingly endorsed the use of modern slave work, even though the vast majority of western society does not agree with these methods.! ! It is difficult to understand how to deal with an issue so widely accepted and simultaneously denied by one’s own society, especially if the issue transcends borders. My reactions and opinions on the topics presented in the last two days are all based in my understanding of society as derived from the way of living local to the United States, and specifically the urban United States. As a class, we question the legality of trafficking based on our communal understanding of legality in countries that possess government. Thus Journalism around this subject, and international journalism in general, strikes me as a very complex maze of morality that consumers of media tend to take for granted. Archer joked about how one of his articles was assessed as a three minute read after months of work, but it is a valid point. Articles surrounding international policy must be carefully crafted in order to fit the target audience’s understanding of culture and morality. As the receivers of this media, we rarely glimpse the difficulties of this process, and the differences between societies. More often, americans think of foreign life as identical to our own, or stereotypical in a generally negative fashion. In reality all societies are complex organisms with positive and negative aspects galore.!

! Archer was able to approach sex traffickers for interviews because he understood that these people were not monsters. they would not hurt him for inquiring about their methods. Traffickers live among common people, not in secluded ruins where human trafficking occurs. The issue is closer than we like to realize, while simultaneously occurring in places we could never imagine. This is why Human trafficking is so difficult to publicize. It is a complex worldwide market, not a gang of kidnappers on the run.