A few days ago my fiancee did something truly great. My eyes may or may not be tearing up as I think about it and how proud I am of her. Without doubt, she found a front for human trafficking, called the Human Trafficking Hotline, and put Polaris Project on the hunt. On the one hand, I'm thinking to myself, "With all my talking about how we need to keep our eyes open, why couldn't I have found this place myself?" On the other hand, it's not about me at all. It's about awareness leading to action. It is because she knows me and has talked with me about human trafficking for countless hours, and therefore has grown immensely aware of trafficking, that my fiancee was able to realize that a certain massage parlor in Vermont is not really a legitimate massage parlor. Awareness does lead to greater action.
I've decided that I have qualms about using names and real information of a place that hasn't yet been busted. A whole series of "what if" questions are running through my head. The major questions being, "What if the place happens to read my article, and they decide to pack up and move and continue enslaving elsewhere?" and, "What if some jerk-face reads this article and decides to go see what it's like being serviced by a slave at slave-rates?" No, thank you. As much as I would like to point out the good work that my fiancee did and show you how sketchy the place is, which hopefully would also inspire and help you to keep your eyes open for possible cases of trafficking, the conservatively reflective side of me figures it best to leave all the information in the hands of professional investigators. The professionals can investigate the shady location, the sketchy website and the very suspicious reviews.
Still, I can tell you, and tell you proudly, that indeed ordinary people like you and me can be greatly involved in ending trafficking. There are bills and petitions we can sign, there are changes we can make in our own life, and if we keep our eyes open, we can help Polaris Project and other organizations do the dirty work of putting an end to human trafficking. Your community is not free of slavery, if only because there are people living in your community who hold attitudes that might open doors for traffickers, and it is up to you to change that. I am proud of my fiancee for performing such a great deed, and I'm sure there are many ways that I can be proud of all of you, too.
Showing posts with label American slavery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American slavery. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Finally Publishing
About eight months after I had originally hoped to publish (that's what we call naivete), I am finally getting 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves
onto the presses. It has unexpectedly been a very emotional ride,
which you won't hear about for months and months, but suffice it to say
that my first ever serious publication is not quite as exciting as one
would hope. At the end of the day, though, I feel successful. Now,
selfishly, I'm most worried about selling the friggin book; of course,
I'm also worried that, once having sold the book, that readers will find
it somehow useful, helpful, meaningful, or whatever positive 'ful' word
you can insert.
Of my trusted readers of this blog, if you want to buy a copy (it won't be available on Amazon for about ten days, and when it is it might be a couple of dollars more expensive) e-mail me at jlucy.wilde@gmail.com and then we'll go from there. Happy reading!
Of my trusted readers of this blog, if you want to buy a copy (it won't be available on Amazon for about ten days, and when it is it might be a couple of dollars more expensive) e-mail me at jlucy.wilde@gmail.com and then we'll go from there. Happy reading!
Monday, August 20, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Hometown Prophet
A couple of weeks ago I came home from seminary and immediately jumped into helping my father win an a town election. He won the race for selectman and everyone is happy.
Much of the work that goes into helping with a town election for grunts like me entails holding signs. On the day of the election I found myself holding a sign (or two) for ten hours. At one point that meant standing next to a fine gentleman that I like quite a bit, though until then I hadn't much opportunity to talk to him during the past few years of knowing him. Most of the time we were telling stories, long stories: apparently he and my father are the kings of telling long stories.
I don't usually tell long stories. I just have a lot of stories that I tell in quick fashion. One of the stories I told that day was how I had bicycled across the country to fight human trafficking. He responded as most people do, "Wow, are you serious?!" And then a few seconds later, "That's so disturbing. I don't know why anyone would use someone like that. Hopefully our government can step into other countries and stop it." I was proud of him until that last sentence.
What surprises me about the interaction is how little some people know about domestic human trafficking even in my hometown. Lack of awareness is an on-going issue that I've written about, and to some extent I think it's the major issue when it comes to trying to fight the evil, but since I decided to go on my bike trip I have not spent much time at home. Now that I have it's rather upsetting that people that I know and have known for a long time, people that I respect, and people that I thought would have read the article about my bike trip in our town newspaper and that I thought were following this blog, continue to have little idea about just how serious human trafficking is in our world today. Yes, I am glad that this man showed more concern about those held in slavery than most people that I talk to do, but I still think even the most concern does little good when it is directed internationally and is totally ignorant of how serious it is around our homes.
Granted, I can't expect everyone that I come across to be up to speed on the issue nor can I expect them to have followed my trip with ever-attentive eyes. In a lot of ways it's good because, I mean, that's my mission: to make others aware. I'd be silly to think that a few months, even an impressive few months, would fulfill my mission. Still, I'm beginning to understand what people like Jesus and Mohammed knew, that prophets are very rarely accepted in their hometown. Part of that is because people know me for who I am with all of my deficiencies and I can't simply be that great guy who biked across the country. But a lot of that is because, knowing me, hometown folk believe that "this guy" can't have much to say that they don't already know.
I don't mean to say that I'm a prophet. I simply mean that the experience I have had at home so far reminds me of how much harder a person with a universal mission must work in their hometown. It's a good thing that I've always wanted to make Hudson, MA a great place--perhaps, through many, many years of hard toil, Hudson can become a model for the fight against slavery.
Much of the work that goes into helping with a town election for grunts like me entails holding signs. On the day of the election I found myself holding a sign (or two) for ten hours. At one point that meant standing next to a fine gentleman that I like quite a bit, though until then I hadn't much opportunity to talk to him during the past few years of knowing him. Most of the time we were telling stories, long stories: apparently he and my father are the kings of telling long stories.
I don't usually tell long stories. I just have a lot of stories that I tell in quick fashion. One of the stories I told that day was how I had bicycled across the country to fight human trafficking. He responded as most people do, "Wow, are you serious?!" And then a few seconds later, "That's so disturbing. I don't know why anyone would use someone like that. Hopefully our government can step into other countries and stop it." I was proud of him until that last sentence.
What surprises me about the interaction is how little some people know about domestic human trafficking even in my hometown. Lack of awareness is an on-going issue that I've written about, and to some extent I think it's the major issue when it comes to trying to fight the evil, but since I decided to go on my bike trip I have not spent much time at home. Now that I have it's rather upsetting that people that I know and have known for a long time, people that I respect, and people that I thought would have read the article about my bike trip in our town newspaper and that I thought were following this blog, continue to have little idea about just how serious human trafficking is in our world today. Yes, I am glad that this man showed more concern about those held in slavery than most people that I talk to do, but I still think even the most concern does little good when it is directed internationally and is totally ignorant of how serious it is around our homes.
Granted, I can't expect everyone that I come across to be up to speed on the issue nor can I expect them to have followed my trip with ever-attentive eyes. In a lot of ways it's good because, I mean, that's my mission: to make others aware. I'd be silly to think that a few months, even an impressive few months, would fulfill my mission. Still, I'm beginning to understand what people like Jesus and Mohammed knew, that prophets are very rarely accepted in their hometown. Part of that is because people know me for who I am with all of my deficiencies and I can't simply be that great guy who biked across the country. But a lot of that is because, knowing me, hometown folk believe that "this guy" can't have much to say that they don't already know.
I don't mean to say that I'm a prophet. I simply mean that the experience I have had at home so far reminds me of how much harder a person with a universal mission must work in their hometown. It's a good thing that I've always wanted to make Hudson, MA a great place--perhaps, through many, many years of hard toil, Hudson can become a model for the fight against slavery.
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