Hennen: It’s not human trafficking, it’s slavery

There are more slaves today than at any other time in our history, even when slavery was legal. Did you know that? I didn't until I saw the must-see movie of summer: “Sound of Freedom.”

Movie reviews have been glowing: “It's based on an incredible true story and it shines a light on the darkest of places. After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy's sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death,” writes Rotten Tomatoes.

The true story belongs to Tim Ballard with Operation Underground Railroad. Ballard spent more than a decade working as a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security, where he was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team.

While working for the government, Ballard saw how much more is needed in the fight against child trafficking and exploitation across the world. In 2013, he and a team of former government operatives left the security of their careers to accomplish the work of rescuing children at a private foundation.

For some reason, we call this plague on humanity human trafficking. It's slavery. It involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.

Think about this. Millions of men, women and children are trafficked worldwide — including right here in the United States. We're told it can happen in any community and victims can be any age, race, gender or nationality. Traffickers use violence, manipulation, false promises of well-paying jobs, romantic relationships, language barriers, fear of their traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement frequently to keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.

The sick creeps behind this slave trade prey on easy targets who have psychological or emotional vulnerability, economic hardship, live in a country with political instabilities or suffer from natural disasters.

“Sound of Freedom” has motivated me (and hopefully millions who see the movie) to want to “do something.” How can I help? I'll start with this column. This travesty needs the disinfectant of sunshine. And I also want you to know about a local nonprofit organization that is doing something every day. It's called Unseen. Here is what they believe:

“Traffickers are highly networked and well-funded. We believe anti-traffickers must be networked and well-funded too. With a problem this large, organizations combating trafficking need to rapidly expand their work—to identify current victims, deliver aftercare services to more survivors, and prosecute exploiters, but insufficient funding slows them down.”

Unseen helps these groups raise funds to do this important work. Find out more about them at WeAreUnseen.org . Let's do something to end this worldwide nightmare.

Scott Hennen hosts the statewide radio program “What's On Your Mind?” On AM 1100 “The Flag”, AM 1090 KTGO “The Flag” and AM 1460 KLTC. Email him at [email protected]

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.