Nelson Mandela once said, “There is no keener revelation of a society’s soul than in the way in which it treats its children.” Child Sex trafficking is an ugly secret that many in America refuse to accept, or acknowledge. Human Trafficking is a 150-billion-dollar industry. It is the fastest criminal enterprise in the world recently surpassing the illegal drug trade. There are an estimated 30 million people trapped by it today. Slavery was not abolished in 1865. There are more slaves today then there has ever been at one time in all of history.
There are estimated to be more than 2 million child sex slaves around the world. This isn’t just happening in 3rd world countries but America as well. Criminal organizations are attracted to children because unlike drugs humans can be sold repeatedly, 10-20 times in 24 hours. Trafficking children is also for slave labor, and recently discovered, for organ harvesting. A pediatric heart can go for $250,000 on the black market. A child being used for slave labor is most likely being sexually abused as well. We can assume those numbers to be grossly underestimated.
The United States in the number one consumer of child exploitation material. It is number three for destination countries for child trafficking also known as sex tourism. People come to the United States for that very reason. This tells us that trafficking isn’t always in the dark underground of our society, sometimes it’s right in front of us but we don’t see it, because we don’t know how to. It happens in lots of towns.
When we hear about trafficking we think, runaways, kidnapped children situations in 3rd world countries, what we don’t realize is that it can happen anywhere, even in this small town. The recounting of a now-adult woman who told of her trafficking as a 5-year-old. She was trafficking by her father who was a little league coach, her stay at home mother knew of it and did nothing. She was never tied up, hit, or beaten. “Most of the time these children are treated with fake kindness, often praised, given treats, and made to feel like what is happening is good and normal because they are special.” Her father would give her to other men in public places, they would go on vacations. She would be left at the pool or public restroom and an agreed-upon man would come to take her by the hand, walk away with her like she was his daughter, and so no one thought any different. It was in the open, she appeared to be loved and cared for child, so everyone thought that and didn’t question it.
Another recounting of a school resource officer in Boise Idaho says kids become part of the trafficking ring at a young age and it is because of social media platforms like Tik Tok, snap chat, and Instagram to name a few.
“Snapchat is full of people waiting to traffic your children. Step number one is to desensitize them to sex-trafficking. High school-age drug dealers (15-21) will often give multiple prices to young females seeking drugs; Marijuana Zip straight price $150, Price with nude pictures $110, Price with sexual favor $80. This begins in 7th and 8th grade.” He goes on to say that “Tick Tok might be the granddaddy of grooming young girls to be trafficked. Young girls are being offered money from strangers to send pictures and videos; Feet Pictures $15, Bra and Panties pictures $25, Topless pictures $50-$75, Full Nude photos $100, and Sexual videos $500-$1000”
These kids are then blackmailed with these images to produce more or to perform acts, and so their trafficking begins.
We also hear of many young teens meeting strangers on these platforms who claim to be younger and get the kids to meet up with them which they are then taken and sold for sex which is recorded and used as blackmail to keep the teen locked in.
Something big we can learn from this man’s experience is that we should not be giving kids smartphones, the online predators are there, ready and waiting.
Tim Ballard who is a former undercover operative for the CIA and has made it his mission to end child trafficking. He has a nonprofit organization called Operation Underground Railroad in which undercover agents will stay domestic and travel around the world rescuing children being sold for sex, as of today they have saved more than 2,000 kids worldwide. The School of Greatness podcast by Lewis Howel interviewed Tim Ballard. There were some very important domestic issues to discuss. He said that because of Corona and the lockdown children are being preyed upon more than ever because they are home and online, and so are the pedophiles. He goes on to say that on the dark web you can see these sickos talking about this time as “the great harvest of children” and the reason for this is because parents are distracted, trying to find food, work, and childcare, or they are just absent due to the stress of the lockdown. Not to mention the school and after school programs are a safe place for many children. Imagine a child living in a home where they are sexually exploited by a family member, when they are at school they are safe, but because of lockdown those children have not had a safe place and are in constant danger.
He goes on to say that it is far less safe for a child to be on a tablet than it is to be at an after-school program. As I before mentioned he says that all social media platforms are a danger to children. Anything, where a child can connect with another person online, is going to mean there are predators.
So, what can we do about it and how do we keep our kids safe? This is such a heavy topic. It is especially heavy if you have kids, you instantly picture them as the ones being abused, it is a dark burden, but we are not the ones being hurt and so we need to be the ones stopping this. If we do not start talking about it nothing will change. Our countries sentencing does not reflect the damage that is done to these children and it is because people don’t want to talk about it. But the more we talk the better our justice and aftercare systems will be.
A major way you can keep your kid’s safe is by not giving them smartphones. A child is not mentally capable of handling the dangers that come with a smartphone. You can still get a flip phone! And there is a new phone out called GABB WIRELESS, it was made by the creator of Save The Kids, it is a phone that looks like a smartphone, it can take pictures and text but it cannot send or receive pictures nor can it access the internet. Another idea is to keep your kid off online gaming because they are not playing computer avatars, they are playing adults. Your 6-year-old daughter could be playing with a 42-year-old pedophile in Texas.
Porn fuels child trafficking, because you do not know how old the person is in the video or if it is consensual. The top porn site that claims to be “ethical” is filled with child sexual assault videos. The more individuals go to these sites the more the demand there is. If we shut down online pornography it would have an enormous effect on the exploitation of children.
If you want to donate to help end trafficking, Operation Underground Railroad is a good organization. They also have an online program to teach you how to recognize a person that is being trafficked. You can also follow @timballard89 on Instagram to learn more about this topic. to educate yourself on the dangers of smartphones for your kids follow @savethekids, and last if you would like to know about the dangers of pornography and how it fuels trafficking follow @fightthenewdrug or visit their website fightthenewdrug.org.
July 30th was the United Nations “World Day Against Trafficking in Persons” which was established to raise awareness. If you would like to be involved in next year’s awareness activity in Big Sandy please contact Bryanna Goodman.
