Portland: Friend to the Environment and Pimps Alike

by Angela Longerbeam · 2010-01-12 11:22:00 UTC
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The city of Portland, OR, has worked hard to emerge as one of the greenest places to live in America. Unfortunately, it also holds an ever-so-slightly more questionable honor: it is a hotbed of human trafficking activity. As “The Oregonian” reports, forced prostitution in the Portland metropolitan area is as much a city staple as LEED-certified buildings and bicycle paths. Slack laws regarding enforcement, a substantial street presence of underage children, and a legal sex industry are among the components brewing together in this perfect storm of human exploitation.

In contrast to its admirable quest for renewable energy sources, Portland lags in seeking data on sex-trafficking victims -– information that is vital to addressing the problem. Without this data, there is no way to gauge the true extent of the issue, much less launch sufficient combative resources, such as victim shelters. While we know the FBI teamed up with local law enforcement agencies last February for a 29-city sweep, picking up six pimps and seven young prostitutes in Portland, it is not enough. The city of Portland needs to get busy with some serious sex-trafficking data spreadsheets, pronto.

Luckily, the Northwest Conference Against Trafficking (NCAT) met in Portland over the past weekend to raise awareness on this issue, ine that is too often overlooked or even denied. With the help of NCAT’s efforts, along with an increased community and government response, perhaps we will eventually see a reprioritization of values in this great, green city. Surely targeting a suspected pimp should rate at least as high as a pulling over a solo driver in the carpool lane? We can only hope.

Photo Credit: K. Kendall
Angela Longerbeam is a freelance writer and pop culture addict fighting to end modern-day slavery with an MFA degree and irrepressible snark.
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