I dont know why i left it until Sunday, but here it is.

32,000,000 worldwide; 60,000, annually brought into the United States; 200 brought in o Kentucky annually; 10-20 at the end of November in Lexington this year. These numbers represent trafficked women and children for sex, and millions more for other forms of human trafficking. Many of you may not believe this is a relevant topic in your lives, but I ask you, show some heart. These are people just like you and me, they are being kept in terrible conditions, forced to do and perform acts against their will, and are not getting paid. This is slavery. The abuse of the powerless and voiceless can only stop if you and I use OUR voices and OUR power to speak and act against it.

In the United States we believe that human trafficking ended with the finish of the Civil War, but it didn’t. It still occurs everyday right under our very noses. Forced labor and involuntary prostitution of women and children does not just occur over seas but also occurs in the United States and even in Lexington Kentucky.

Do you believe you know what human trafficking is? Human trafficking is more than prostitution. It has been defined by the Department of State in the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report as forced child labor, such as children forced to mine the gold used in our jewelry, sex trafficking including child sex trafficking, debt bonded labor which is when people are forced to work for an employer because they owe their employer and unpayable debt, child soldiers, and involuntary domestic labor.

Prostitution is the most well known of the human trafficking, maybe because it is despicable, but has also gotten the most press from the media. The documentary Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids documents the life of children of prostitutes in India. This documentary strikes the person watching as sad and terrible, and that is the films, main purpose. The pictures taken by the children in the book can also be described as atrocious; they show the terrible living conditions of prostitutes and their offspring. The pictures in this book remind us that as Richard Holbrok said, “One must never forget that slaves are first and foremost people. Their lives are filled with sorrow and injustice – but also . . . they are touched with humor and joy. Just like regular people.just like free people. “ In this documentary we are being drawn inevitably towards the conclusion that we must stop human trafficking in India.

This publicity for human trafficking, especially in the sex trade, does not only occur for India but many other foreign countries besides. In Children in the Global Sex Trade it addresses the living conditions of children who are human trafficked for sex. Many articles also focus on foreign human trafficking busts such as the one in Thailand (“Thai Police Release 70 Women and Girls after Trafficking Raid”).

But the fact still remains that we believe that human trafficking happens only in other countries to the most vulnerable women and children, we can’t believe that it happens in the United States. As Nicholas Kristof says,’ We are sympathetic to the foreign slave trade, but when approached by girls on the American streets everyone hardens their hearts and labels the girls miscreants.”

Human trafficking, prostitution in particular, is especially prevalent among gangs in the United States right now. Human trafficking is less risky than dealing in narcotics because the victims are young and powerless, and often runaways. On November 20^th of this year in Lexington, Kentucky 6 men were arrested for pimping out women for sexual acts, the women were not taken in for arrest because they were believed to be trafficked. Women were forced to perform sex acts for thirty dollars.

Prostitution and human trafficking are unquestionably bad, but what can You, the average American who consumes many things, do?

We, as consumers, can insist that we only buy goods that are guaranteed to not be produced by child labor. Demand that stores like Wal-mart and Target are transparent about the sources of their products. And if they do not comply, we can take our business elsewhere, just like the abolitionists of the 1800’s.

A lot of our food is imported from countries that use child labor. As consumers, and a country, we can only import food from tier one countries that have laws against child labor and enforce these laws.

Right now it is winter, the season of giving, and you too can give. You can give to any one of many organizations who protect women and children who have been victims of the sex trade. One of these wonderful organizations is called Coalition Against Trafficking of Women, which helps women who are being prostituted.

Let us remember the words of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, “ Ending this crime so monstrous is not a political issue; it is an American imperative and a human responsibility. This is why there are still modern-day abolitionists. And this is why the rest of us should join them.”

It started with millions of women and children being victimized by human traffickers, but the answer is in this very room. It starts with one, and then two. You and me, together we can use our voices to put an end to human trafficking.