Many favorite brands flunk human rights test

Are you brand loyal? Do you stick to Carter’s, Apple and Cadbury? Do you ever wonder how they produce the products you love? If you’ve never stopped to think about it, you probably don’t know what a lousy job many of your favorite brands do monitoring the conditions of people who work for...

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Get your slaves—cheap

You can own a slave for $90. You can’t even buy a coat for $90. At that dirt cheap price there must be thousands of people being sold. Millions even. So, if you want to start a sure-fire business, become a slave trader. Capture some people—particularly women and children—ship them halfway...

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Tampa Bay hub for human trafficking

Many people know the phrase “modern day slavery” but don’t realize it’s happening in their hometowns. Florida state representative Rachel Burgin admits she was unaware of the problem’s severity until she attended a national conference in Washington, D.C. and sat next...

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Make slavery a household word

I was nearly speechless last week when a friend asked, “What is modern day slavery?” “Women forced into prostitution,” I blurted. “Forced farm labor!” Is what I see and read about every day invisible to the average American? Twenty-seven million people–the...

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Slavery continues despite war, amendment

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. While the war was fought over a fusion of slavery and states’ rights issues, slavery didn’t end in the United States until December 1865 with passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Or did it? Consider these...

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Video game attacks human trafficking

Spanish documentary filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle previewed a social-impact game that will teach adolescents about human trafficking at a modern-day slavery awareness event in Frisco, Texas Jan. 25. Still in pre-prototype form, “SOS_SLAVES: Changing The Trafficking Game” allows young adults to...

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Time to stop cannibalizing our children

The director of “Not My Life,” a documentary that takes an unflinching look at global human trafficking as a children’s issue, has an innovative plan for getting his message out. It’s not enough to show the film in theaters and on TV and maybe win a few festival awards, says...

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Slaves weave Jersey hair braids

We don’t have auction blocks in center city anymore, but people are still being enslaved in America–often in plain sight. Consider the preteen girls from Togo and Ghana, whose families were tricked into thinking they were sending their daughters to the United States for an education and...

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Buy gifts made by sex slave survivors

Strength. Compassion. Empowerment. These are qualities to celebrate this holiday season. Qualities that translate into gifts that will do more than bring a fleeting smile. At the Somaly Mam Foundation Empowerment Store, you can purchase a survivor-made product and help a survivor become financially...

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