How I Became An Abolitionist: A Book, a Buick, and a Mr. Goodbar

by Amanda Kloer · 1999-11-29 23:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Lately, a several people have asked me how I came to be a professional abolitionist.  The truth is, it all came down to a book, a Buick, and a Mr. Goodbar.  We often find our callings from the people and things around us, and I hope my story will help you to find and tell your own.     

Part 1: The Book: It Is Your Problem

I haven't always been a professional abolitionist.  In 2001, I was a college Freshmen and an ambitious corporate advertising major.  My career aspirations were to a.) be rich, b.) meet rock stars, and c.) party.  And then Kevin Bales came into my life.  I was assigned the book Disposable People as part of a freshmen survey course and procrastinated reading it for weeks, mostly to pursue goals b.) and c.).  When I finally set myself to the task one Sunday afternoon, I found I couldn't stop.  I read the whole text in one sitting, and at 8:00 am the next morning, I changed my major, dropped my advertising classes, and ran full steam into abolition.

Disposable People was more that just an inspiring book for me, though.  It taught me not just that modern-day slavery existed, or the depth of the horrors victims experience, but that eradicating this evil was my  responsibility.  Not someone else's.  Mine.  I live in a country and a world built on the backs of people who are not free.  Knowing that, I couldn't not do what I did.  I couldn't just avoid being the problem, I had to be the solution.

I highly recommend Disposable People and it's more recent companion Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves to anyone, no matter how interested or (as I was at the time) uninterested in the topic of modern-day slavery.  Bales' text is inspiring and empowering.  The picture laid out is mind-boggling- that we are all connected, even indirectly to the exploitation of people in slavery.  How can we walk away from them?

Stay tuned next week, for the Buick!

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
NEXT STORY:
Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, how are you going to take action?

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.