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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Putting sexual abusers on the map

Sexual harassment in Egypt has reached plague proportions. To combat the relentless attack on women’s rights—mainly the right to not be physically and emotionally molested—a group of creative women launched a new website last year called HarassMap.org, which encourages female victims of...

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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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Modern-day slavery alive among US domestic workers

Modern day slavery doesn’t occur only on the other side of the world or in poor countries. It’s common right in the United States. Social worker Tiffany Williams has aided a 24-year-old nanny forced to sleep on the basement floor in freezing temperatures and beg for food scraps from the...

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Human trafficking: the new drug trafficking

Human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing unlawful industry. This year it is predicted to surpass the illegal drug trade, making it the world’s leading criminal activity. So say articles by Evens Sanon, Jonathan Katz and Megan McAdams in The Progress Report...

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