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| By Emma DOrothy Reinhardt and Charles Jacobs: Slaves have returned to these shores. We dont mean people with bad jobs, low pay, and nsty bosses. We mean slaves- people forced to work for no money under the threat of violence. According to the CIA 50,000 people are trafficked into the US each year. There are more then 100,000 slaves here now. Slaves in America are women, children, and men who are tempted,trafficked,and then trapped in the snares of a growing modern-day slave trade.They save and borrow for a down payment on the smugglers 50000 charge- for the fraudulent documents and the journey by plane boat or truck. They come from every continent and are brought for different uses. Most sex slaves are from Asia, most domestic slaves are from Africa, and the Middle East, mot field laborers are from South America. They are lured by a well dressed buisnessman promising a res[ectable job or encouraged by a trusted relative. THey arrive here are stripped of all documents helf captive and forced to work- pay off thier debts to prevent their threatend families back home from being harmed, To slave themselves from the streets deemed more dangerous even that the hienous conditions in which thier masters keep them. The slave masters are smiling UN diplomats or shady illegal smugglers- the publicity respected professionals or the professionaly skilled traffickers. and under the masters roofs with no English no papres no legal status and a huge debt the vunerable victems are made even more vulnerable. They are enslaved here in the "Land of the free" Americans may faintly recall the famous cases: In quincy in 1992 a Boston University student was found with n underfed abused enslaved women from sri lanka. In el monte, calif, in 1995, dozens of Thais were discovered behind barbed wire, forced to make clothing sold in Filenes. In New York City in 1997, 100 deaf mexicans were selling trinkets in the subways for masters who beat them when they came home below quota. Thousands of cases dont make the headlines: In New York a child welfare counselor beat her Nigerian slave until the neighbours called the police. in Maryland, A Brazillian woman in bondage had hot soup poured on her chest and her hair yanked from her head because her work displeased her masters, a couple who had kept her captive for 20 years. In Los Angeles last april a 2-year-old Thai boy was found sedated in the airport used as a decoy by sex slaves traffickers to convey a "family image" to customs. Outside Detroit, a 13-year-old girl from Cameroon, raped and beaten repeatedly with a high heeled shoe edcaped after years of forced labor. Just a few months ago a math teacher in Denver was cought using mexican boys as sex slaves . and just last month in New York City and ivy league asylum lawyer was found to have made 13.5 million dollars by working closely with chinese smugglers to guide into slavery ore then 6,000 people from china over the last seven years. Cases of Slavery slash across the US from sea to shining sea. And while an older generation of abolitionists depended on those bold enough to defy evel, modern day freedom fighters depend on the vigiilant and the vocal. Many cases of slavery have been discoverd by ordinary community members - nurses in quncy street vendors in NYC, neighbours in LA have all been heroes in revealing and redeeming former slaves. this is our country and slavery is the pervasive in our backyards. we are involved: We purchace products made by slves, we share offices with those foul enough to lure others into slavery, and we live next door to those locked in servitude. slvaery in this country was abolished in 1865, yet its back with us americans must act again to eradicate this evil though long dead Let Us be vigilant and let us be vocal. Let us be abolitionists again. |
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