Category — Human Trafficking in the Media

A year ago this month the movie “Cadillac Records” was released, recounting how Chess Records in Chicago popularized the blues of musicians – notably Muddy Waters – plucked from post-slavery sharecropping.  Recently, I was amused as a I sat with Chicago’s leading anti-human trafficking activist Samir Goswami listening to Muddy Water’s son join a blues band in a Chicago club to sing one tune.  (We thought he’d best have left the singing to his late dad.) [Read more →]

Created by law in 2000, the T-visa for trafficking victims is a wonderful sign of America’s heart – a status to allow an undocumented person who is in fact a human trafficking victim to stay in America and get richly deserved help. To its credit, Italy had a similar policy even before the United States. [Read more →]

As I waited in line to make a purchase at Barnes & Noble today, I started scanning over the items in the “Gift Ideas” display. Right next to a Harry Potter wizard kit and a Hello Kitty jewelry kit, I saw “Pimp My Pumpkin” emblazoned on a small shiny box. [Read more →]

When I was at Harvard College in the 1980s there was a bit of political correctness.  I recall in my House at Harvard, a 350-student residential college, there were cheeky songs sung by students at a holiday season dinner. [Read more →]

Welcome home Laura Ling and Euna Lee!

After almost five months of imprisonment in North Korea, American journalists Ling and Lee have finally returned home to California. It’s hard to hold back the tears as you watch them reunite with their families. [Read more →]

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Sometimes, in our daily lives, there are concrete victories when a quote comes rushing with clarity to the forefront of our minds, and we’re reminded why that quote speaks to so many of us in the first place.

Last week, I was pleased to witness one of these world-changing events. [Read more →]

When I heard about the detention of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, by North Korean authorities in March, my first thought focused on their courage and the importance of their mission to document the little-reported stories of North Korean refugees in China.  The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea had recently released a comprehensive report on North Korean refugees victimized by human traffickers. Grassroots organizations such as Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) have also worked to raise awareness through video presentations. [Read more →]

“I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.” – Frederick Douglass

Human traffickers are motivated by profit, and they know that human trafficking is a business, driven by the economic principles of supply and demand.  Like other businesses, traffickers need to engage in effective marketing in order to reach potential customers.  What most people don’t realize, however, is the degree to which traffickers are using legitimate sources to advertise. [Read more →]

This spring is an exciting time at Polaris Project and at many of our partner organizations in the anti-trafficking field because we feel that the movement against human trafficking is gaining momentum.  There’s an increasing sense that more people are becoming aware that modern-day slavery is present in our communities.  It’s great to see when people are motivated to fight against human trafficking once they learn about it.  Learn, get outraged, resolve to take action…and do something.  That’s how movements are built and sustained. [Read more →]

At the Karma Nightclub in Minneapolis a few days ago, April 5, there was a Players Ball.

Let’s stop for a minute.  That’s a publicly-advertised wild bash at a nightclub, celebrating pimps’ business… What’s wrong with this picture? [Read more →]