I first heard about No Name Calling Week over at Lesbian Family. I thought the idea was great.
I have been thinking about bullying and what I want to say about it. This is a hard topic for me. I was bullied. But I was lucky– I have the personality and a strong support system that allowed me to walk away only slightly damaged. I certainly see how it affected and affects some others deeply. I worry about how my daughter will be treated and seen. So, this week, I am going to try and talk about bullying. Wish me luck!
About No Name-Calling Week
Coordinated by GLSEN in collaboration with over 60 national education organizational partners, No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.
Being that I work overseas, you might expect that I would use today to talk about Trafficking in Persons in the country I live in currently (Albania). Or, the country I just came from (Kazakhstan). Or, the country where I did research on human trafficking (Chile). Or, the country where I knew children who were trafficked (Moldova). But, today I won’t do that. I want to talk about human trafficking int he country I call home (USA).
The sad truth is that human trafficking continues to be a problem in the US. Yes, in large cities: New York, LA, Boston. But also in rural areas of the country, small towns, suburbia.
A few jobs ago, I worked with some victims of human trafficking. Men who were lured to the US with promises of jobs and money to send home and instead ended up working in slave like conditions in Middle America with their passports confiscated and the door to the house they lived in padlocked from the outside. After several months, someone put in a tip and they were freed. They were freed, but they weren’t compensated for their losses. They were free, but they still had to explain to wives and children what happened to them. They have been free for years now, but I am sure their experience still haunts them. Honestly, their stories still haunt me.
An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. (U.S. Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons)
These numbers are staggering and the realities are bleak. However, in the US, there are places you can report suspected cases of trafficking. Polaris Project suggests:
If you see any of these red flags, contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 1-888-3737-888 to report the situation. Click here to learn more about reporting potential human trafficking situations. This list is not exhaustive and represents only a selection of possible indicators. Also, the red flags in this list may not be present in all trafficking cases and are not cumulative.
Common Work and Living Conditions: The Individual(s) in Question
Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)
Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior
Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid
Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement
Avoids eye contact
Poor Physical Health
Lacks health care
Appears malnourished
Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture
Lack of Control
Has few or no personal possessions
Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account
Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)
Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)
Other
Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is staying/address
Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in
Loss of sense of time
Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story
To request assessment tools and for more information about reporting trafficking click here. For resource packs on human trafficking and how to recognize the signs click here.
In 2006, Liza was pregnant and in search of other mothers to answer her questions. She yearned for a one stop shop for lesbian moms to gather. Not finding quite what she wanted, she created it. Thus, lesbianfamily.com was born.
In 2007, I started writing for Lesbian Family. At the time I was living in Chile and trying to find other LGBT friendly-folk. The blogging helped me find a whole tiny world of lesbian bloggeras (that would be the Spanish for blogging women). I helped add a Spanish speaking section to the original page and am so proud to say that Julieta has agreed to be part of the reincarnation of LesbianFamily.com.
As a bisexual woman, married to a man, mother to a daughter (little elephant), and sole bread winner— I haven’t yet rejoined the ranks of Lesbian Family. I am, nonetheless, so excited for the new content and new voices. Check it out. Lesbian family is not just for lesbians. It is a great place for allies and gay dads and trans parents and anyone else who is interested. It is a wonderful space for parents who want to discuss raising allies, feminist parenting, and getting toddlers to eat broccoli.
This is from the Polaris Project Blog. I think it is worth a read (and since I know that most people will not click over even with the scads of other interesting posts– and a thought so I am posting this one here.
At the Karma Nightclub in Minneapolis a few days ago, April 5, there was a Players Ball.
Let’s stop for a minute. That’s a publicly-advertised wild bash at a nightclub, celebrating pimps’ business… What’s wrong with this picture?
It’s bad enough that we look at the record of arrests related to prostitution and we find that manifold more prostituted females are arrested and punished than pimping males. That is one reason theWilliam Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 aptly requires statistics on those arrested in prostitution to separate the numbers of arrests for prostituted people from the johns and pimps.
Pimps regularly engage in the force, fraud, and coercion that under the law qualify them as sex traffickers – whether or not the females they victimize are foreign nationals or U.S. citizens. But what’s worse is a culture which lionizes pimps. Pimps are celebrated as hip – in film, in television, in music lyrics. They are treated like they are admirable iconoclasts rebelling against the Establishment. They are seen as cool for “sticking it to the man.”
But just think about how their true specialty is abuse of the woman. To the woman from whom they take every cent received from johns, upon threat of punishment — to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To the woman they allegedly protect but regularly intimidate and beat. The regular violence pimps employ is far from the glamorized image in popular music, videos, TV, and films. Take it from Rachel Lloyd, a survivor of sex trafficking who leads Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), “So what’s it really like for us? They never tell us that we’ll never see any of the money we make…the beatings, the physical torture we’ll receive.”
Filmmaker Spike Lee said it all: “As African-Americans we let artists slide,” he observed to an audience in Toronto four years ago this spring. “I think that we have to start to hold people accountable.” Of gangsta rappers he noted, “These artists talk about ‘ho this, bitch this, skank this’ and all the other stuff. They’re talking about all our mothers, all our sisters. ” Looking at the big picture, he commented, “[W]e’re in a time when young black boys and girls want to be pimps and strippers, because that is what they see. . . .Something is definitely wrong.”
Later that year in Tennessee, Spike Lee said most trenchantly, “We’ve put pimps on a pedestal.” Exactly.
But lest you think this a moralistic sermon aimed at failings of the African-American culture, don’t. We should be most concerned about the businesses serving as enablers of this cultural symbolism.
Business fuels sex trafficking too. Entertainment companies that make money celebrating pimps on TV and what’s on your family member’s iPod are partly responsible for a culture of impunity for pimps. Take the movie “Hustle and Flow” whose main protagonist is a pimp or the HBO series “Hookers at the Point” which glamorizes pimp-controlled prostitution in Brooklyn.
This kind of glamorization of the degradation of women by men is why as State Department Ambassador to fight human trafficking, I picketed HBO in New York with feminist colleagues for its egregious series “Cathouse” last fall.
Players balls like that at the Karma Nightclub – gathering gross exploiters for an orgy to celebrate what they do– are only the most flagrant example of a perverse respect for pimps. It’s time for some healthy disrespect. They deserve to be “dissed.” And punishment with significant jail time when a player is dehumanizing his fellow human being. Not a party.
My blog-friend Emily works for an online company called Needish. I think she enjoys her job as she talks about it and encourages anyone who will listen to join. I did join, but mostly just to appease her. (Sorry Emily!)
Basically, needish is a place where you publish what you need. People need all kinds of things. You can post and ask for an apartment in NY; or a friend; or a recipe like creme brulee; or, like this couple, you can try and trade work for a honeymoon. Then, you can search for what others need and help them out. If you are an independent photographer like Kyle, you can search for people in your area who need photographers and land yourself some jobs.
I did publish some needs; now I am a huge convert. The needs I have published have been really random and, frankly, I thought I wouldn’t ever get a response. First I posted that I needed an English teacher in Rancagua for S. Got some leads. Didn’t come to much, but that is mostly a time issue. I have also requested help appraising stamps and finding a certain collectable item for christmas present of someone who reads this blog– got responses on both. Currently, the need I have is to know how to get glitter glue out of a wool suit. Not sure if I will get a response, but how cool is it that I can ask? (also, if you know the answer, please leave a comment).
Anyways, without pressure from Emily who has a stake in the business, I am going to plug it. Do you have needs? Get on needish!
I was driving out to REI the other night to get my nephew his b-day present and an assortment of other Christmas and birthday presents when A Prairie Home Companion came on the radio. It’s funny, I know that this is not the show that the cool kids listen to and yet I totally don’t mind outing myself as a nerd by saying that I really like Garrison Keillor’s show.
When I was little, my parents would listen to this and the Sunday crossword puzzle before and after church. It was a morning ritual to figure out the puzzle and laugh along at the stories of Lake Wobegon. In college I would turn NPR on hoping to find the show some weekends. I think it is the only show that makes me understand why radio was so popular back in the day. Not that I would give up TV– but I get it.
In Moldova, where we sometimes had nothing to do, there were several of us who would trade tapes. We were all midwesterners and it was our version of baseball cards. I could have recited some of those episodes. While I am not a fan of every piece or all the music and sometimes the religious references turn me off, the show always has something that makes me laugh. The Catchup bit is always a favorite. The sound effects guy, featured in the above video, never fails either. What a great job that must be! Not to mention very little competition.
On Saturday, the last thing I heard from this show was the following piece. It seems like a good way to go into this year’s thanksgiving holiday season.
I am thankful for ATM machines
For the smell of coffee beans
For the dishwasher and for the GPS
Thought up by the Pentagon, a great success
That makes it unnecessary for us men
To ever need to ask for directions again.
Thank you thank you thank you thanks a lot
For what we have and for some things that we do not
I am thankful for macaroni and cheese,
Of mac and cheese I have only good memories
Boil water. Put the macaroni in. It’s
A very nice meal in about ten minutes.
And speaking of food of low status,
Thank you for instant mashed potatoes
Which is simply dehydrated potato flakes.
Mashed potatoes in one-tenth the time it takes
To boil one and whip it up nice and smooth.
And if you want to know the absolute truth
That dry organic peanut butter — I hate it.
I like the kind with sugar and fat, saturated.
Thank you thank you thank you and merci
Peanut butter has always been merciful to me.
And for the U.S. Postal Service I say thanks
Delivering mail from Florida to Fairbanks,
I am grateful for blogs and other new media
And of course for the miraculous Wikipedia
Which puts information at your fingertips
An innovation as great as sailing ships,
Or putting a steam engine on the rails,
So thank you Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales.
And thank you Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Who in 1997 launched a search engine
Google, which simply is superb
A noun that quickly became a verb.
In 2006 WI voters choose to change WI marriage law to define marriage between one man and one woman and also has wording that outlaws civil unions for gay and straight couples. This past election several other states have taken away gay people’s right to marry and to adopt children. Yesterday, all across this country, people stood up and protested. Protests were held in every state and 10 countries. Totals of Join the Impact protest numbers from cities around the US can be found here.
I learned about Somaly Mam when I was living in Cambodia and working against human trafficking in the region. She is a local name and a local hero. I can’t imagine what a person feels when they live through what she has survived. I often wonder how these children have the strength to persevere. But the fact that Somaly more than survived, that she grew up to be a savior for children in her position with the strength to speak out and stand up, is amazing.
One of the things I’ve seen in development is that Western-designed efforts aren’t always as successful as they should be, while the best approach is to support local people who know the local terrain. That’s why it’s so wonderful to see people like Somaly providing leadership, with Westerners serving as Sherpas.
Also, Mongkol, a Cambodian studying in the US, writes about how she made an appearance on the Tyra Banks show. He includes the videos of the show and his own comments.
There are 27 million people living in slavery…some of them are in your backyard…
As a backyard abolitionist, we want to inform you of an opportunity coming to your city. As you may have heard, Not For Sale has been involved in the production of a new documentary film called Call and Response. Appropriately nicknamed a “rockumentary”, Call and Response features performances from today’s most talented musicians who have been inspired to respond to the human trafficking crisis, and we are inviting you to join the movement. The film will be premiering all across America throughout October; we have included a link to the locations, dates and times of screenings in your city.
In addition to the screenings, certain cities have organized candlelight vigils to precede the event; this includes San Francisco, Orange County, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis. If you would like to purchase tickets for these cities, please follow the appropriate link:
If you would like to host a vigil in any additional cities, feel free to contact us for more information.
We encourage you to invite your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else you know to attend the screening. If they don’t know about human trafficking this film is a perfect introduction; if they do know, it’s a perfect way to show support for the cause.
Another good reason to invite your friends is that ticket sales will be directly benefiting Buddies Along the Roadside. Created by a remarkable Thai woman named Kru Nam, Buddies is a safe house for trafficked children strategically located in the Golden Triangle, a major hub in human trafficking industry. Ticket sales from Call and Response will provide important funding for this project.
You are needed in the fight against modern slavery.
Non-emergency Police Number in Your Area: Sorry, can’t help you here… you will have to look this up
I hope that you never have to use these number for your own child or for anyone else… but if you do, often it is important to have the numbers immediately.
Also, if you feel something is wrong– trust your gut. At worst, you could be wrong. At best, you could save a life! I wish I had done more in my case– I wish I had gotten someone to check the guy out and not called after the fact. Don’t give yourself that type of doubt: call.
Here are some red flags that people can be aware of…
Common Work and Living Conditions
The Individual(s) in Question:
Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)
Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior
Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous / paranoid behavior
Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up “law enforcement”
Avoids eye contact
Poor Physical Health
Lacks health care
Appears malnourished
Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture
Lack of Control
Has few or no personal possessions
Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account
Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)
Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)
Other
Claims of “just visiting” and inability to clarify where he/she is staying / address
Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in
Loss of sense of time
Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story
Children in particular
Is sexually explicit or mature beyond age
Is seen being touched by adult in provocative manner
Is being promised things by adult
Does not seem to know the person(s) he/she is traveling with
If you see any of these red flags or have a “bad feeling” or “gut feeling”, call and make a report to the numbers above.
