For What It's Worth

Yesterday at work I went to a seminar on Human Trafficking. Wow. It is super upsetting what is happening in our country, state, and city. The average age that girls are taken into the sex trade is 13. Check out this website for more information about its presence in Milwaukee. Visit this website to sign the pledge to stop the demand for human trafficking in Wisconsin. I just did.

And of course, sing along with me and Buffalo Springfield:

There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking' their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, "hooray for our side"

It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

I agree. It is time to stop, examine what is going on, and do something about it. How does a girl come back from being trafficked for sex from age 13 on? With a whole lot of help from services that are not readily available and a system that still, at least in part, wants to blame her for something that was entirely out of her control.

And it's not just girls. And it's not just in big cities. All 72 counties in Wisconsin have documented cases:

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

It's not pretty. But we can't pretend it isn't happening. We have to do something about it!