Stop modern slavery now. With 100,000 children traded in the U.S. annually and up to two identified victims a week in FCPS; seven WS seniors participated in the DC Stop Modern Slavery walk to draw attention to this often-misunderstood issue.
“I have been a part of Spartans Against Human Trafficking since conception and when [senior] Kyra [Beckman] talked about this I knew it was something the club should do,” said senior Elaine Stewart. “I wanted to be a part of this to spread awareness and get people’s attention to this issue on a larger scale.”
Although this was not an official Spartans Against Human Trafficking Club field trip, many of its members decided to attend the event together. They were among the 2,000 protesters who showed up to support the cause at the National Mall in DC. Booths were set up all over the lawn, broadcasting potential projects that attendees could become participate in to get more involved.
“There was one booth from the Polaris Project, which is a leading organization that fights human trafficking,” said senior Kyra Beckman. “They had a lot of great information and ideas for ways to help the cause.”
Before the walk began, the seven seniors listened to survivors tell their stories and heard from organization presidents informing the crowd of different ways they could donate time and resources.
“It was really inspiring that [the survivors] had the courage to go up there because it means they are taking their bad experience and making it into something that’s good for the world,” said Beckman.
Participants also learned about the warning signs that someone may be a victim, including anxious and tense behavior, no control of personal identification documents (I.D. or passports), malnourishment, and signs of physical or mental abuse. A full list of signs is also posted at www.polarisproject.org.
“The problem with human trafficking is that it’s really hard to recognize. It defies age, race and gender; it could really be anyone,” said Beckman.
As high school students in a wealthy and safe suburb it may be hard to see where to fit into the grand scheme of this social issue. However, student’s important role in ending sex trafficking was touched upon by one of the speakers.
“[High school students are able to help by] not accepting the culture of tolerance,” said Director of Programs from Shared Hope International Eliza Roeck. “Using words like whore is wrong and idealizing and glamorizing pimp culture is a downfall of our movement because it allows us to normalize exploitation of people. It’s important for high school students to encourage each other to be brave and say they don’t appreciate that language.”
The event ended with the seven WS students joining in with the other participants to walk around the national mall, raising awareness with their bright red T-shirts and signs.
“A lot of people think slavery doesn’t exist anymore,” said senior Jen Kirk. “Hopefully people in DC saw all of us and found out about an issue that needs to end.”