Latest modern slavery fight updates - FreedomUnited.org

Racial Justice and Trafficking

  • Published on
    January 19, 2016
  • News Source Image
  • Category:
Hero Banner

Racial justice and trafficking is at the core of this article.  The topic of trafficking has gained consistent attention.  In fact, January has been declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month…

More and more people are recognizing slavery as a global issue–one that involves people in vulnerable situations, experiencing coercion in their work, exploitation and fear tactics, and no freedom to leave.  

Still there is confusion about how to describe it and how to get the experiences of the victims and the survivors.  While so much discussion is well-intended, it’s not always historically accurate.

This article takes the expertise of several and tried to describe the differences between slavery and trafficking.

Throughout American history, involuntary labor has been implemented through various means, including force, threats, coercion, fraud, and physical/sexual assault, and is older than the United States itself. Forms of forced labor have taken place within our borders since the founding of our country, including slavery, the transition from slavery to prison labor, peonage, debt bondage, and more recently, trafficking in persons. The dynamic has always been, in one form or another, racialized, gendered, and abusive of people in vulnerable economic situations. And the previous notion of indenture was ostensibly time-bound and, like trafficking today, often linked to migration.

[It is] absolutely clear that anti-trafficking work must speak directly to issues of racial justice, including the ways it intersects with economic opportunity, the criminal justice system, immigration policy, and racial bias generally.

To read this entire article, click on the link below.

View Article on The Huffington Post

Subscribe

Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.

stop icon A few things we do not tolerate: comments that promote discrimination, prejudice, racism, or xenophobia, as well as personal attacks or profanity. We screen submissions in order to create a space where the entire Freedom United community feels safe to express and exchange thoughtful opinions.

Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

This week

Meatpacking plants are repeat offenders of child exploitation

A shocking investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) has uncovered persistent child labor violations at Seaboard Triumph Foods’ pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Over four years, children as young as 13 were illegally employed to sanitize hazardous equipment using corrosive chemicals, violating federal laws designed to protect minors from dangerous work. The revelations of widespread child labor exploitation in industries like

| Tuesday December 3, 2024

Read more