MSNBC

I will never forgive NBC for choosing to air one of those "Good Morning America" shows rather than Andy Roddick's Wimbledon final match against Roger Federer.  Also, I did not much like NBC's coverage of the recent Olympics in London.  Still, MSNBC last night made up for much of that: from 9-11 p.m. they had two documentary shows on human trafficking.

As always, I am simply glad that human trafficking has gained the attention of news outlets, more and more articles and shows focus on human trafficking.  But as I watched the first show last night (10 p.m. is when I go to bed) entitled "Slavery in the Suburbs" I had conflicting notions: on one hand, I was relieved and excited, insofar as one can be excited in such circumstances, that the stories told in the little documentary all had the purpose of carving away the idea that slavery only happens in foreign/developing countries and is alive and well in our hometowns; on the other hand, I was saddened to think that many people would not watch the documentaries because of the assumption that slavery doesn't occur here in the States, and even of those who did watch many might persuade themselves that human trafficking does not happen in their hometown--and then, why should they care?

The reason why I chose Polaris Project as the organization to fund with my fund-raising last summer on my bike trip is the same reason why I try harping on awareness: Americans especially think that the country is so great, so progressive, so free, that slavery could not possibly still exist here.  In the documentary last night, the police refused to think of a young girl recently rescued from sex slavery (not due to any help from the police) as a victim of forced prostitution and instead treated her as a runaway drug addict, since, as with most victims, she was pumped full of drugs.  Thus, no investigation to find and convict her captors ever commenced.  Another story from last night: a father broke into the pimp's home where her daughter was being held, after the police had taken more than an hour to respond to his 911 call to say that his daughter was kidnapped and held as a prostitute, and then was charged with breaking and entering.  That charge was dropped, but still, c'mon people.  Police officers are simply representative of the attitudes that most all of us hold: forced prostitution? slavery? sex slavery? Not possible, not here. 

Perhaps it is especially because of our ignorance that slavery can run rampant in our country.  We need to get over it.  We need to pay particular attention when there are documentaries like the ones MSNBC aired last night.  We need to keep our eyes open.