Slave Trade

Ashamed. Scared. Vulnerable. Used. Afraid. Alone.

These are only a glimpse of emotions that an estimated 17,500 children feel everyday in the United States experience daily. Forcing young children from their homes and forcing them to perform unspeakable tasks occurs everyday in Atlanta. This crime is known as the sex slave trade.

Although it is the highest growing crime in the United States, the crime has had little attention drawn to it. Currently, 400 children are being taken from their homes and forced into the slave trade, but few people even know that it occurs. When people think of slaves, they imagine slavery in pre-Civil War and assume that the problem is not as influential as it was then, but conditions have worsened for modern-day slaves. There is more slavery in Georgia today then there was at the time of the civil war, and the average price of a slave has dropped from 40,000 in 1850 to only $90 today. And the problem is not only happening in strange, foreign countries—Atlanta is listed as one of the top locations for the slave trade.

Miya grew up in a similar lifestyle to ours, but Miya's life forever changed after being sold into the slave trade. Miya was a girl, only 11 years old, when captured from her home in Buckhead. 4 years after being sold, Miya returned home after a miraculous rescue. Miya described the lack of education provided, “They don't tell you the part about the rapes. They don't tell you about getting beat up. They don't tell you that you might die every day.”. Today, Miya has returned to her old town, but still struggles to live a normal life. Every night, she worries the pips  will force Miya into prostitution again. If our country, or our state, was able to take a stand against the trade, girls like Miya would not be fearing their safety.

While some efforts have been to prevent the sex slave trade, the effort should continue to grow. Educating Atlantans about the trade is key to preventing it. If people were aware of what went on in the city, they could stay alert when in the city. In addition, making extreme consequences and looking for the culprits and continuing search efforts for missing children will aid in preventing, and eventually abolishing, the slave trade.  

Sources: 

http://marietta.patch.com/articles/sex-trafficking-sad-reality-in-cobb-metro-atlanta

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2834852