NEWSBYANGELA LONGERBEAM

Is it possible a company can really care more about the state of their CEO's inbox than preventing human trafficking? If that company is Southwest Airlines, then yes. After nearly 800 Change.org members asked major U.S. airlines to incorporate human trafficking instruction into its flight-crew training, only one responded — Southwest. And they are more concerned about the cluttered state of CEO Gary C. Kelly’s inbox than human trafficking on their flights.

In a recent email to Change.org, Monica Van Slate of Southwest Airlines' Executive Office/Communications Initiatives responded to over 800 of their customers' messages requesting their company train staff to identify and report human trafficking, with this message:

I’m writing now to respectfully request your help in discouraging any further emails from the petitioners who support this particular cause on change.org.  Our CEO, Gary Kelly, is still receiving several each day.  Given that we’ve engaged in communication on the subject and are firm in our position, we do consider this particular issue closed.

The "communication on the subject" they're referring to was an earlier email saying Southwest was not interested in training their staff to identify human trafficking on their flights. And now they've not only made it clear that the issue of human trafficking is unimportant to their company, it's so unimportant that inbox clutter is a far more pressing issue than their customers' requests for a slavery-free flight.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes knows too well that the U.S. is not immune to the problem of sex trafficking – it occurs in his own borough every day. And high at risk, Hynes says, are young immigrant girls. That's why he's working with the community and New York celebrity activists like Sarah Jessica Parker and Gabourey Sidibe to create a community safety net for trafficking victims.

According to Hynes, girls between the ages of 13 and 15 are frequently trafficked in Brooklyn, many of them from Latin American countries, as well as Europe and China. Lacking proper documentation and a good handle on language, these girls are easy prey for sex traffickers, many of whom, Hynes says, belong to gangs. The Crips, Bloods and Latin Kings, among other groups, specifically target young, undocumented immigrants, knowing their trademark tactics of threats, coercion and brutality will work like a charm in pushing the girls into prostitution.

In response, the DA’s office has formed the Brooklyn Sex Trafficking Unit, or BKSTU, the same organization behind the anti-human trafficking PSA campaign voiced by Sarah Jessica Parker and Gabourey Sibide. Partnering with local agencies and community organizations, BKSTU combats sex trafficking through community education and comprehensive victim care. Community members with crime tips or in need of services can call its dedicated hotline at (718) 250-2770. And Hynes is careful to emphasize that undocumented immigrants who fear recrimination should not stay silent. “Their immigration status is not something we are concerned about with the victims,” he says. “We are concerned about them as individuals.”

Dear Massachusetts House of Representatives,

Hey, gang! How’s it going? All set for the holidays? Have all your end-of-the-year “to-do’s” crossed off your lists? Great, glad to hear it. But it seems as though you might be forgetting something: House Bill 1328. The law against human trafficking? Yeah, that one. Ring any bells?

Over 150 Change.org members have addressed your Speaker, as well as your Majority and Minority House Leaders, on behalf of human trafficking victims in your state. They’ve expressed in no uncertain terms that it’s time for Massachusetts to bring its anti-human trafficking laws up to speed with, at bare minimum, the passage of HB 1328. And all they’ve gotten in response is the sound of crickets.

Without even the most basic law in place, victims of human trafficking in the state of Massachusetts are all but unprotected. Their traffickers are unaccountable. And the crime itself thrives. It is thriving there, in the form of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Victims are often underage; they are both U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.

Don’t believe us? Take a look at your own statewide news from this past year alone. Read through WGBH’s in-depth series on sex and labor trafficking throughout Boston. Look up Massachusetts on Polaris Project’s State Rating Map for anti-human trafficking statutes and note its flaming red color. It might look like roses, but it’s not the one you want.

When Elizabeth Smart testified last week against her captor, she had a lot to say about the details of her 9-month ordeal, but not so much about why she never tried to escape. As Slate.com discusses, Elizabeth likely stayed put due to pure fear — an act of self-preservation common to those victimized by sex trafficking and other predatory crimes. Inspired by stories like Elizabeth’s, the Not One More Child movement seeks to protect kids from ever having to experience that fear.

At the age of 14, Elizabeth was stolen from her home and forced to play the role of one of Brian David Mitchell’s “celestial wives,” a term that, for the victim, was nowhere near as mystical as it sounded. She was tied to a tree for a month and raped every day, her will weakened by physical force, alcohol and verbal abuse. And she was kept well-hidden, sequestered from the outside world and well-disguised when out in public. Young, impressionable and lacking the resources necessary for escape, Elizabeth was easily kept captive with not only the abuse she endured, but the simplest, most hard-hitting, easiest-to-believe threat: If she ran, Mitchell would kill her family.

Tactically speaking, predators like sex traffickers are Brian David Mitchell’s second cousins. Where Mitchell sought God’s glory (or whatever other motive existed in his deranged mind) through control of his victim, pimps seek profit.  But their means are quite similar. Sex trafficking victims are raped daily by their clients, and their wills are also weakened by drugs, beatings, verbal thrashings, isolation and meaningful threats. Individuals forced into prostitution often remain quiet and do not attempt escape for the same, simple reason as Elizabeth Smart: fear.

Local Massachusetts news stations must feel pretty lame reporting on stories that, for most other states in the nation, are completely passé. As one of just five states that have absolutely no anti-human trafficking laws in place, the home of the Patriots makes terrible headlines -- women and girls are unprotected from forced prostitution, and pimps and johns run free. Hey Massachusetts, what up with that?

Nearly two years ago, House Bill 1328 was filed in Massachusetts, but has not yet passed. I won’t pretend to understand the convoluted world of politics and its apparently infinite supply of red tape, but seriously? Almost. Two. Years. With no action whatsoever on this most basic state legislation that would make it illegal to exploit human beings through force, fraud or coercion, and would hold responsible the people who attempt to do so.

Outlawing slavery seems pretty simple, but without passage of this bill, Massachusetts, as a state, has no way to effectively address the crime. Meanwhile, Newscenter 5 out of Boston reports that at least 300 child victims of forced prostitution have been identified in Suffolk County alone. Their stories are heartbreakingly similar, fraught with physical and emotional scars that will affect them throughout their lives, while their abusers not only evade culpability, but are free to continue victimizing others in the same manner.

Sex trafficking has no place in the city, according to a new campaign by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, and both Sarah Jessica Parker and Gabourey Sidibe agree. To help promote the campaign and a new local hot line, the celebs recently lent their voices to a set of ads currently running on local airwaves.

In SJP’s spot, the Sex and the City star notes that she had been unaware of sex trafficking as a domestic crime. But, she states, “At least 100,000 American children are trafficked into prostitution each year.” Gabourey Sidibe’s PSA complements with a more local approach; the Precious star was born in Brooklyn and is all too aware of the crime’s prevalence. “It makes me sick,” she says, “to think of those animals taking 12-, 13- and 14-year-old girls and renting them out to a John.”

Listeners are encouraged to be aware of sex trafficking in Brooklyn, to know that its victims include both immigrants and Americans, runaways and otherwise vulnerable girls and boys. The campaign also includes posters and fliers visible throughout the community, with information on how to identify sex trafficking. And those with tips to share – or those in need of services – can call the Brooklyn Sex Trafficking Unit’s new hot line at (718) 250-2770.

Does it frustrate anyone else out there when slavery is spoken about as a past institution, limited to a single era in history, a mere “once upon a time?” It’s a common misconception, but one that the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, seeks to shatter in its new exhibit, called “Invisible: Slavery Today.”

The Freedom Center, which primarily focuses on our nation’s affair with slavery prior to the Civil War, has added a new and permanent exhibit that links our past to our present with a spotlight on human trafficking and modern-day slavery.  Broken up into three parts, the exhibit looks at various forms of enslavement in today’s world, slavery’s contemporary causes and extent and, optimistically, the ways in which slavery is currently being fought. After learning all about the more historical facets of the slave trade, museum-goers will come to understand the practice is not only ongoing, but widespread, and perhaps find inspiration to become a modern-day abolitionist.

A few weeks back, I was reminded of how important it is to relate historical slavery to modern-day slavery while watching the documentary Traces of the Trade. The film examines the DeWolf family’s prominent role in the Triangle Trade while living in New England (as opposed to the more predictable South) and discusses the meaning of that legacy. And for a thoughtful look at race relations in America, it’s terrific. But for a movie that so clearly could and should have connected the dots between the slavery of yesteryear with the slavery of today, it was, sad to say, an epic fail.

Human trafficking flourishes in “dark places,” according to The Slave Next Door author Ron Soodalter. And right now in the United States, major airlines need a little light. That’s why Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) has been calling for implementation of training resources within every big airline across the nation – and why you should, too.

As discussed in a recent news article, aircrew members are often the first line of defense against human trafficking, and if they are each taught to recognize signs of the crime, as well as protocol in handling it, they can effectively cut off a huge avenue of transport for traffickers and their victims. Deborah Sigmund of Innocents at Risk personally witnessed a human trafficking case during flight travel last year and was able to report and stop the offense before it happened. Noticing that a child’s “caretaker” had to consult his own paperwork in order to relay the boy’s name, she surreptitiously asked the child about his destination, and sadly, he didn’t know. Led to believe he was headed to North Carolina, the boy was actually Florida-bound with the would-be horror of child pornography in his future.

Drawing on red flags such as these, Sigmund and her organization have developed human trafficking materials for airlines. Every airline that incorporates this information into their safety training will teach each of its employees what a victim looks like: Is he suffering signs of physical abuse? Does she appear disoriented? Malnourished? Afraid to talk or make eye contact? Is he free to move about, or does it seem like he is under another’s complete control? When a potential victim is identified, properly-trained airline workers will know to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888.

From coast to coast, regular Americans are fighting human trafficking in creative and exceptional ways. Each month, your East and West Coast correspondents give you the play-by-play as contenders from both coasts battle the returning nemesis, modern-day slavery. Join us ringside for our East Coast/West Coast match-up and help these contenders become anti-slavery champions!

Pound-for-Pound Analysis

In This Corner: Global Mamas

Hailing From: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Division: Fair Trade, Handmade Clothing and Accessories

Reach: Empowering female artisans from Ghana, West Africa, through provision of a sustainable livelihood

Matchup: Pockets of Dreams

Technically a bit inland from the East Coast, the Minnesota-based company Global Mamas packs a powerful enough punch in support of Ghana’s women artisans to warrant a spot in the ring. A certified member of the Fair Trade Federation, Global Mamas strives to knock economic inequality in the teeth.

I’ll be honest – I don’t often watch videos on the subject of human trafficking, as they’re more than a bit intense. My imagination responds actively enough to written accounts, thank you very much. However, every once in awhile at least, it’s important to open one’s eyes and really see. From Sept. 17 to Sept. 30, Explore.org is running a Human Rights Series that includes a video from the Rescue Foundation on sex trafficking in Mumbai, addressing the approximately 25,000 girls there who are forced into prostitution.

Hailing from India, as well as Nepal and Bangladesh, the girls are kidnapped by strangers while going about their daily business and trafficked into a brothel. Or, subject to extreme poverty, they are sold or otherwise abandoned by their families. The outlawed practice of Devadasi, too, often leaves women and girls with no other options than brothel life.

Subject to both physical and mental tortures in darkened rooms, starved, beaten and drugged to ensure their compliance, the girls are made to feel completely hopeless and trapped by their brothel owners – sometimes quite literally. One girl noted that whenever police strode by the building, “They would put me in a crate to hide me.” And Rescue Foundation workers note that this practice of hiding away is not uncommon, as during raids, they often do not see the girls right away.