City elders host human trafficking education event in Harrisonburg

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – On Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, City Elders of Rockingham and Harrisonburg held an educational event on human trafficking. The event titled Make it Stop aimed to teach people more about human trafficking and how they can help combat it.

Tanya Gould was the event's keynote speaker, she is the Director of the Human Trafficking Office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and a human trafficking survivor. She shared information about the harsh realties of human trafficking and dispelled some of the common myths about it.

“Being a survivor and coming into this space to talk about what happened to me, what human trafficking looks like both sex and labor, it really helps a community understand that it actually happens in their backyard or in plain sight,” said Gould. “So for me it's about educating, bringing awareness, and helping the community to understand how to respond.”

Gould said that one common misconception about human trafficking is that people think it only happens in big cities and foreign countries when in reality it can happen anywhere including communities like Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

“A lot of people think that human trafficking happens ‘over there' or to someone else and so the fact that I'm a survivor and I live here in the United States of America and was trafficked here, that is a really important point,” she said.

The event also featured a panel with Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst and 26th District Delegate Tony Wilt. During the event Garst shared a story about prosecuting a trafficking case in Harrisonburg, highlighting that it is a problem in the community.

“A young lady that was 13 came to our community to start a new life. Her family had saved to give her an opportunity and she was going here to live with a family. But instead she was in a trailer where everyday at lunch and after work she was forced to service up to 20 men a day, starting at 13,” said Garst. “That same trailer is where their family would bring her dinner and clothes and that would be her family. So it took a lot of work to prosecute that case and get justice for her and get her free.”

Tanya Gould said that human trafficking is a problem because of the demand for it. She said that everyone is a part of the problem in different ways but everyone can also be part of the solution.

“The only way we're going to deal with this is to educate ourselves, understand how we contribute to trafficking in America and then once we understand that and accept that we can then begin to do something about,” she said.

Gould said that one way everyday people contribute to human trafficking is by viewing pornography. She said there are a lot of things people and parents in particular should be mindful of.

“What folks are posting on the internet, language, how we are raising our families, how connected we are to our children. Traffickers know how to meet kids where they are and that's the parents job. If parents would be more involved in their kids lives and we can get back to community and family then it would be tough for a trafficker to crack that,” said Gould.

Delegate Tony Wilt also spoke at the event, he said the most part for him was to continue learning more about human trafficking.

”I want to learn more. There's a lot of moving parts to the whole human trafficking conversation and I also want to give the proponents, the folks that are standing up for the victims, I want to give them a voice, give them a place to go,” said Wilt, a Republican who represents Harrisonburg and part of Rockingham County. “I want them to know that there are people out here listening and we're willing to try to do something about it in the appropriate manner.”

Wilt said that he plans to take everything he learned with him back to Richmond to help he and the rest of the Virginia General Assembly better combat human trafficking through legislation. He also touted some of the efforts that have already been made.

“There have been some things enacted just this past session that go toward further training in different avenues that may potentially be dealing with human trafficking victims, be it law enforcement and the whole health world, for those folks to have the proper training to be able to see and identify a potential victim of human trafficking,” said Wilt.

Wilt said when he returns to Richmond he hopes to take more action to stop human trafficking.

“I think an important part of it is increasing the penalties, cracking down, making it a lot tougher on the individuals, the perpetrators. We made a couple attempts at that this past season that didn't succeed. So that's something that we'll very likely continue to look at,” he said.

If you believe you have seen human trafficking you can report it to Virginia State Police through its Human Trafficking Tipline. Just text “VSP” to 847411, followed by the tip. All tips are anonymous.

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