by Reverend Dr. Magby….

I am Rev Dr Gwendolyn D. Magby. For nearly 13 years it has been my privilege to pastor Trinity Presbyterian Church, “The Church in the Heart of the City with the City at Heart and the Friendliest Church This Side of Heaven,” located at 717 Simonton Street,

I am also the chair of Keys Coalition and it is in that capacity that I wrote this essay on human trafficking, to bring increased awareness of the issue in our community. I start by thanking The Blue Paper for giving us this opportunity.

Trafficking is nothing more than modern day slavery. The term “trafficking” is a bit of a misnomer. It does not necessitate that there has been a movement of victims between countries or even between state lines.

The opportunity the Blue Paper has given us could not have come at a more appropriate time. Just two weeks ago the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, working in cooperation with several county sheriffs, rounded up one of the largest groups of sex traffickers in Florida History. Fifteen traffickers were arrested and there are warrants out for two more suspects who remain at large.

In this case there was indeed trafficking across borders. The traffickers smuggled six (or more) young women into this country from Mexico and Central America, promising them legitimate jobs and in some cases reunification with family members. Instead the women were forced to become prostitutes and to “service” as many as 45 men a day, six days a week. The traffickers earned approximately $320,000 per year demonstrating what a lucrative business the selling the bodies of victims can be.

The victims were swapped between defendants and between four counties to avoid drawing attention. The ring was exposed only after a victim was identified during a routine traffic stop.

Make no mistake about it: these six women were not willing participants in the numerous daily sex encounters. Each “transaction” was, for the victim, a rape. And this horrible “business” continued for several years.

It is hard to even think about the trauma inflicted on these victims.

WHAT IS TRAFFICKING?

Let me start at the beginning, with definitions. Trafficking is generally divided into two parts: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. In both cases the victim is required to perform services as a result of fraud, force or coercion—with one exception: both federal and state law provide that if it is sex trafficking and the person required to perform a sex act is a minor, there is no need to show fraud, force or coercion. The mere fact that the victim is a minor and performs sex acts under the direction of another makes it a trafficking case. This is codified in both the federal anti-trafficking statute and in the Florida law.

And although the case I described above did involve moving victims across national borders, that is an exception. In most cases there is no international movement of victims.

HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ON TRAFFICKING THAT MAY SHOCK YOU:

1. There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, the highest number ever recorded.
2. Trafficking is cited as the third largest and fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, following only drug and arms trafficking.
3. The majority of trafficking cases (estimates are about 80%) involve sex trafficking and most victims are female and many (as many as half) are minors. Trafficking victims are often from racial minorities.
4. Sex trafficking is growing in large part because it is advertised on the Internet. It is no longer necessary for a prostitute to advertise on the street. “Dates” can be arranged privately, even with underage girls, on the Internet and most often through a site called backpage.com
5. Most trafficking in this country occurs in New York, California and Florida (in that order). Florida is normally ranked as the third largest state for trafficking.
6. The average age that a girl is forced into prostitution is twelve to fourteen.
7. One pimp noted that a young girl can be bought for $10,000 and earn that much in a week, after which her earnings are pure profit to the pimp. A drug can be only sold once but a girl can be sold numerous times.

Space precludes a discussion of how pimps recruit and train their victims. Tragically, in some cases minor girls are even sold for sex by one or both of their parents.

THEY SAID IT DID NOT HAPPEN HERE; THEY WERE WRONG

As an early member (but not then an officer) of Keys Coalition I was outraged at early attacks on Keys Coalition. Its critics said we were an unnecessary organization because trafficking simply does not happen in Monroe County. We now have reasons to believe (through reports from the Domestic Abuse Shelter) that there had indeed been incidents of sex trafficking before our formation in late 2011. But even if there had been no trafficking until that point there was no logical reason to believe that it would never happen here in the future when there were cases reported from hundreds of communities, both small and large, urban and rural, across our nation.

And, unfortunately, our critics were proven wrong. Since Keys Coalition started in late 2011, there has been one case (of which we know) of an adult trafficking victim and FIVE cases of our children who have been made trafficking victims, with one victim only fourteen years of age. Last year a seventeen year old was recruited by a pimp from Miami when she was dancing nude in a Key West strip club.

We believe that even one more case is one too many. Our mission and work is worthwhile if we prevent only one more case of this terrible type of child abuse in Monroe County.

THE GOALS OF KEYS COALITION

Keys Coalition has two goals, both of which we work to accomplish by raising awareness. The first objective is the detection of any victims and their rescue. We hope to accomplish this by raising awareness of the signs of trafficking among the general public and among constituencies that may encounter victims. These groups would include EMD and emergency room personnel throughout the Keys; workers in the hospitality industry; teachers, and other groups we will identify from time to time.

We note that a recent study found that most healthcare providers aren’t trained to recognize victims of sex trafficking – and many don’t realize that’s a problem. “The majority of medical providers will come across victims or patients who are at risk for victimization at some point,” said Angela Rabbitt of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Child Advocacy and Protection Services in Milwaukee. Of those medical workers trained in how to recognize a trafficking victim, ninety per cent said they had encountered trafficking victims, a far higher percentage than those who had never received any training.

We raise general community awareness through annual rallies. In 2014 we had a great rally with Kenneth Morris, Jr. who is the great great great grandson of Frederick Douglass and if possible we would like to bring him back and hopefully to have him speak in our public schools. A few weeks ago we had rallies in three cities and showed the new anti-trafficking film “In Plain Sight” about six modern female abolitionists and their work with trafficking survivors.

Probably even more important than finding and rescuing victims is our objective of preventing child sex trafficking. We want to do this through awareness training of the young people who are the targets of the traffickers, starting as early as the middle school.

We hope that some day we will be able to address children (in both middle and high school) in the schools our request to do that awaits review by Monroe County School Superintendent Dr. Mark Porter.

Until that happens we will reach out to young people through church youth groups and other youth organizations.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

A common and important issue many raise after realizing the serious nature of this great evil is “What Can I Do to Help?

Here are several things you can do to help in this fight.

LEARN HOW TO SPOT POTENTIAL TRAFFIC VICTIMS

One of the leading non-profit organizations fighting trafficking is called the Polaris Project. It is named after the North Star which guided escaping slaves to freedom in the nineteenth century.

Here are some possible indicators of trafficking according to the Polaris organization:

Common Work and Living Conditions: The Individual(s) in Question

• Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
• Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
• Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
• Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
• Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
• Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
• Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
• High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)

Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior

• Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid
• Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement
• Avoids eye contact

Poor Physical Health

• Lacks health care
• Appears malnourished
• Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture

Lack of Control

• Has few or no personal possessions
• Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account
• Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)
• Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)

Other

• Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is staying/address
• Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in
• Loss of sense of time
• Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story

If you believe an individual may be a trafficking victim, you should call the 24 hour hotline operated by the Polaris project. The number is 888-3737-888. Polaris will refer the information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. If the victim is a minor, you are required to report information to the DCF child abuse hotline, since sex trafficking of a minor is a terrible form of child abuse. The DCF number is 800-962-2873

Obviously, if you believe an individual is in imminent danger dial 911.

SUPPORT THE WORK OF WESLEY HOUSE

Fortunately, sex trafficking is not rampant in Monroe County as it is in many counties on the mainland (although we are convinced that there are cases here that have not yet been discovered).

One reason why we believe sex trafficking is not as prevalent here as it is on the mainland is because of the great work of Wesley House in supervising the foster home network in Monroe County.

Many traffic victims are runaways from foster homes, as noted by the leader of an important anti-trafficking group.   A disproportionate number were black or Hispanic and most had been in foster care, she recently told a seminar in Maryland. “Essentially, the foster care system is acting as a supply chain to traffickers,” she said.

That just does seem to happen here and we attribute that to the training and supervision of the Wesley House.

We urge all readers to support the Wesley House which advises us there is still a great need for foster families in Monroe County. If you want to help prevent minor sex trafficking, we’d urge you to consider becoming a foster parent by contacting the Wesley House.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

There is an interesting background to this. The Wesley House is named after John Wesley, a co-founder of the Methodist Church. Wesley was a fervent abolitionist. The last letter that Wesley wrote in his life was to his friend William Wilberforce (whose story is discussed in the sidebar by Mr. Gratz), urging him to continue his fight against slavery, which Wesley rightly called an “execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England and [of] human nature.” The letter was written in late February of 1791. Wesley died a week after he wrote to Wilberforce. We reproduce the letter at the end of this essay.

It took Wilberforce another sixteen years to accomplish his victory and end the slave trade in Great Britain, which he did in March of 1807.

WORK AND SUPPORT EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD SEX ABUSE

The vast majority of minor sex trafficking victims suffered sexual abuse as a child. Eliminating child sexual abuse is therefore an important step in the prevention of sex trafficking. That is why Keys Coalition supports the work of organizations such as Lauren’s Kids that work to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness and education. Lauren Book is the daughter of a prominent attorney and lobbyist who suffered severe sexual abuse for six years at the hands of a nanny. She started her organization in 2010 to raise awareness, encourage survivors to tell their story, and work to prevent child abuse. Last Saturday she started her sixth annual walk (1500 miles!) from Key West to Tallahassee. We were glad to read that her Safer, Smarter Kids curriculum is being taught in Keys schools since its development in 2012-2013.

SPREAD THE WORD

Write us to join our e-mail campaign: [email protected].   We will send you no more than one e-mail a week and obviously will remove your name upon request. We suggest you consider sharing our e-mails with your own e-mail list.

Consider sponsoring an awareness program in your own house with your friends and neighbors. Write us with a suggested date and we will be glad to send a speaker and written materials.

THIRD, JOIN US IN OUR FIGHT. BECOME A MODERN DAY ABOLITIONIST

We would welcome your membership. All membership fees go 100% to our programs, printing, etc. No officers receive any fees and we have no administrative costs whatever. Contact us for membership information by writing our e-mail, [email protected], or calling us at 600-8000.

FOURTH, STAY INFORMED ON THE ISSUE

We highly recommend the website below for great questions and answers about child sex trafficking, for teens, parents and community leaders. It is one of the best we have seen.

http://justaskva.org/

We also recommend these organizations (and there are many others).

Polaris Project:   http://www.polarisproject.org

Shared Hope International:   http://sharedhope.org/

National Center for Missing and Exploited Youth   http://www.missingkids.com

You can follow “sex trafficking” news on Google but we admit it can be pretty depressing reading about sex traffickers from every part of this country, from communities both large and small.

You might want to consider signing up for periodic e-mail alerts from the Polaris Project.

In closing we wanted to mention an important Keys’ connection. The daughter of our great friend, Rabbi Shimon Dudai, heads the anti-trafficking unit in the Broward County State’s Attorneys’ Office. We hope she would be willing to speak here when her busy schedule allows it.

Thank you for reading this and we thank you for helping us raise awareness.

---

Balam, February 24, 1791

LETTER FROM JOHN WESLEY TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

February 24, 1791

Dear Sir:

   Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, [2] I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be fore you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

   Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a “law” in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

   That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

 

---

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WILL CONDUCT AN ALL DAY TRAINING SESSION ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING FROM 9:00 a.m. TO 5:00 p.m. ON THURSDAY, APRIL 9^th IN THE SECOND FLOOR MEETING ROOM AT THE HARVEY GOVERNMENT CENTER IN KEY WEST, AT THE CORNER OF TRUMAN AVE AND WHITE STREET). THE SAME TRAINING WILL BE REPEATED ON FRIDAY, APRIL 10^th ALSO AT THE HARVEY GOVERNMENT CENTER. READERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT SEMINAR. ATTENDANCE IS FREE BUT ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. TO REGISTER SIMPLY EMAIL HERE: [email protected] DEADLINE IS MARCH 31, 2015.

---

Rev Dr Gwendolyn D Magby

Dr. Gwendolyn Magby pastors Trinity Presbyterian Church on Simonton Street and she chairs Keys Coalition, the Monroe County anti-slavery organization.