Koto

The other day my fiancee and I learned that a particular restaurant that we like, Koto, has suspect business policies regarding its hibachi chefs.  There are a number of lessons from our new knowledge.

1)  The more we talk about human trafficking with our friends and family, the more we can share knowledge and suspicions of businesses that may be in violation of simple good manners towards our fellow men and women.  In this case, my fiancee had been talking about my new book with a co-worker.  By talking to the co-worker my fiancee learned that she is somewhat involved in local human trafficking organizations who have red-flagged Koto as a possible violator. 

2)  We need to be ready to change our lives and habits at a moment's notice if we hope to put an end to slavery.  My fiancee and I love going to Koto, especially since we live right across the road.  Now, though, we can't in good conscience do so.  Of course, my fiancee's co-worker said that Koto is a possible violator, and it's perhaps not a great thing to remove our business from Koto based on suspicions, but then why not?  There are many other restaurants to go to if we must eat out.  A lot of restaurants are possible violators, and we just have to keep an eye out.

3)  Indeed, we need to keep an eye out.  My fiancee and I had remarked, the last time that we were at Koto, that the hibachi chefs were susceptible to mistreatment.  They come over here to the States hoping to make a good living for themselves, in a state--Vermont--that is notoriously good for foreigners to move to.  New American residents who don't speak much English must rely on the reputation of a state like Vermont or the reputation of the American dream.  If all that they have heard and believed turns out to be false, then they won't know until they've already been sucked into slavery.  We talked about this... and yet didn't decide to do or research anything.  We should have. 

We all should learn how to be more proactive rather than simply think and wonder and talk.  Although, as I said in lesson number one, talking can go a long way.

Miss Rosalie Howe

On our way from Monticello to Springfield, Illinois today, we almost ran over a couple of dogs.  Not our fault, of course.  Thomas was doing his hour of biking and happened to be on a dirt/gravel road and I was driving right next to him while we discussed how our radios were working, and then all of a sudden two big dogs were in front of us barking like mad.  These were the biggest dogs that we had encountered so far on our trip and they were definitely angry for some reason.  I very quickly went from worrying that I was going to have a couple of dead dogs on my conscience to thinking that the dogs were going to have a couple of dead humans on their conscience.  I looked back to see if Thomas who had no protection whatsoever was being eaten alive, but thank goodness he has training with animals and had everything under control.  By the time I worried about myself, the other dog had its front paws on my window on the inside of the car appearing to be ready to jump in and rip my face off.  Ye gods it was terrifying.  But they got their bark out and walked away.

Later, when I was back on the bike, I was just cruising along relaxing down a hill as I got mentally prepared to go up the next hill when I hear Thomas say, "There's a dog..." at which point I thought, Good, he's warning me ahead of time now.  But then he continued on, "hot on your tail!!!!!!!!!!!!"  I look back and there's this little tike right on my heels.  He didn't start barking until he saw me look back at him.  What's funny about this is that earlier in the day I was telling Thomas that I'm terrified of the hypothetical dog that's smart enough to not bark before it attacks the thing it's chasing.  You know when you're watching a movie and the villain always has to have a three-minute speech before shooting the hero, giving the hero enough time to think of something to do, and surely in the back of your mind you're thinking, Yeah, but what if the evil guy just shot the dude like any smart evil person would have?  What then, eh, slick?  Apparently the evil god of the dogs heard our conversation and decided to sick on me a smart dog.  That dog, though, ran out of steam before it was able to bite at me.  Terrifying.  I'm beginning to hate dogs.

Anyway, the important story of the day is of our stop in Latham, Illinois.  Latham is some small town in the middle of farm country that just happened to have the only restaurant on our path where we could feed ourselves before 1.  In the town there was a sign that said, "Business District" with an arrow, pointing us to the one little bank, its little post office, and one restaurant.  The "Business District" was one block long and then turned into farms again.

Walking into the Korner Kafe was a little strange because clearly everyone knew everyone else, and we were strangers.  Before we found some seats across from two nice older ladies, a man asked us how we found the place, clearly understanding how strange it was that two people who just biked in would stop at this out-of-the-way really-little-town restaurant.  We told him what we were doing and suddenly we were the talk of the restaurant.  So the two ladies we sat across from asked us a lot of questions and we talked quite awhile about slavery and our trip.  During our conversation, since it was such a little place, a number of people wished us luck as they left.  And after the two ladies left, the waitress came and told us that they had paid for our lunch.  They left, having paid for our lunch, without telling us what they were going to do or anything.  They simply paid for our lunch and walked away.

Miss Rosalie Howe is the person that actually paid, and Emma was her friend.  I am not entirely blown away by this action because I know that a lot of people do things like this everyday.  But still, what Miss Rosalie Howe did for us, trying to be anonymous, is absolutely amazing.  I pray to God that she may be blessed and may serve as a model for all of us.  Doing good does not require fanfare... it's best served with the anonymous fare.

We are now in Lincoln country.  I'm not going to talk about Abraham Lincoln because the history of freeing the slaves is somewhat complicated and is too often simplified.  All I will say is that the man was brave to follow through with his convictions even in a time of turmoil.  Lincoln did not simply wait until the time was right; he did the right thing, for whatever reason, and that is that.  With that said, I post this from the Polaris Project website:

Victims of human trafficking in the restaurant and food service industry are forced to work as waiters, bussers, kitchen staff, or even cooks/chefs with little or no pay.  They may experience erratic working hours or overwork, with little time off to seek help.  Employees in restaurant and food service industries may be U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents, undocumented immigrants, or holders of a temporary work visa.

An employee at a Polish community center learned about a potential labor trafficking situation at a Chinese restaurant from a woman who had recently left the situation.  The woman was recruited from Poland to come to the U.S. and work at the restaurant.  The woman told the community center employee that she and the other workers had to work 12-14 hours every day for very little pay.  They all lived together in a house near the restaurant that was monitored with security cameras, and the workers could only leave the house to go to work.  The owner of the restaurant frequently would yell at the workers for not working quickly enough.*

*Based on calls received by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.  Identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.

When does it become trafficking?

A job in a restaurant can become human trafficking when the employer or labor recruiter uses force, fraud and/or coercion to intimidate the worker and to make the worker believe that he or she has no other choice but to continue working.  Control is increased in situations where the workers live in employer-provided housing or in the restaurant itself.  In some instances, investigators have uncovered bars and cantinas that not only force female victims of trafficking to work, but also force them to provide commercial sex.  Common means of control include:

Force – Restrictions on the worker’s ability to leave the restaurant or housing; intentionally exhausting work hours; physical or sexual abuse; constant surveillance.

Vulnerabilities

Low industry standards for wages and safety – Restaurant workers are vulnerable to exploitation due to the work standards in certain parts of the restaurant industry and lack of enforcement of labor and safety regulations.  Workers in the restaurant industry are paid low wages and advocacy groups report that wage theft is a common occurrence.  Kitchen staff, dishwashers, and cooks may work more than 70 hours per week, and typically do not receive paid vacation or sick leave.  Traffickers exploit the lack of worker protections by requiring more work from workers for less pay, never permitting them a day off, and not permitting workers to procure jobs elsewhere.

Immigration Status – Over 60% of workers in the restaurant industry were born outside the United States.  Recent immigrants frequently receive less desirable jobs, lower pay, and longer hours with fewer benefits.  Some immigrant workers obtain restaurant jobs through formal or informal recruiting networks, and may have debt, be frequently transferred, or become reliant on their employer for housing.

Traffickers often use the threat of deportation as well as document confiscation to maintain control of foreign national victims.  Some victims enter the U.S. with a fraudulent visa procured through organized crime or a recruiter, leaving them particularly vulnerable to threats of deportation and unlikely to seek help from the police.  Additionally, traffickers prey on immigrant workers’ unfamiliarity with the language, laws and customs of the US to further manipulate or exploit them.

Statistics Snapshot

• Cases of human trafficking in restaurants have been investigated in multiple states, including FL, TX, MA, NY, WI and MN and the prevalence of labor trafficking in restaurants has been commonly cited by human trafficking investigators and service providers as an area of concern.

• In a study of the restaurant industry in several major metropolitan areas by The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, researchers found that nearly 80% of workers did not receive paid vacation days, nearly 90% of workers did not receive paid sick leave.  This report also documents wide racial disparities in the quality of work and wages earned by workers.  For victims of human trafficking forced to work in restaurants, the conditions are frequently more severe.

(Me again!)  Notice how Massachusetts is one of the places where human trafficking in restaurants has occurred frequently enough to be investigated.  A number of other surprising states are on the list including Wisconsin and Minnesota.  This is the last I'll highlight Massachusetts, but I want people to realize one final thing: not only is human trafficking happening in your state, human trafficking is occurring in all sorts of industries all around you.  

It's not necessarily up to you to go into restaurants and figure out whether people working there are actually trafficked slaves.  But you most certainly can treat everyone you see at the restaurant as a potential victim.  In fact, you can treat everyone you see at all times in all places as a potential victim and offer them the utmost love and care.  That's probably a good way to live anyway (probably being an understatement, of course).  And it's most certainly within your grasp to help fund and establish the societies, organizations, and structures that have the training and power to investigate injustices and enforce the laws of morality.  Where you put your money and your time is extremely important.  We live in a consumer culture; money can and does change things.  So pay attention to what you're buying, where your money is going, and then fund organizations like the Polaris Project.  And while you're at it, love the people around you.  Your behaviors and attitudes are unbelievably significant.  What Miss Rosalie Howe did today out of a spirit of love was a very simple thing, but she put her money where her love is and I will never forget it.