Speaker Carol Smolenski
Location: Alger Hall 110
at 4:00 pm 3/26/15
Even
though I arrived at 4:30 pm instead of 4:00. I still got the chance to listen
to some of Smolenski’s discussion about putting kids out of bars because some
of the kids were serving unequal sentence behind bars for sex trafficking. This relates to "Privilege, Power, and Diffence" by Johnson and "The Silence Dialogue" by Delpit and it shows that the child who are the victims are powerless and are kept silent. I feel terrible for those who are only the object and are punished for what they didn't commit but was forced. Soon
a video was displayed and a quote that caught my attention at the beginning of
the video goes, “You don’t realize how much power you have” which refers to the
victims who are and were being controlled by traffickers. In the video, a women
name Katrina talks about her experience being a victim. She stated that she was
chosen as a victim between ages 16 and 17. She also mentions that she was involved
with a man who was already in “harmony,” as in a lot older than she was. Katrina
first arrest was at age 17 and she was terrified. During the arrest she also
found out that she was pregnant and became more aware of her issue. Many of young girls now-a-day don't know how much media influences their actions and some can lead them to sabotage other people and their lives.
The video also shows anonymous survivors
who grew up in home where they didn’t have much. The video shows clips that
involve strippers, and prostitutes on the streets who might be some victims as well.
There was a speaker from a children’s hospital, who understood how the children
thinks and she said that they would say things such as, “this is normal, this
is what other people do,” but we all know for sure that that’s not normal for
people to be a victim for sex trafficking. Those innocent kids are being sold,
and forced to do things they never wanted to do. They have no way to escape because
if they did and was caught, they would be brutally punished by the traffickers. There
were several speakers in the video such as Bart Lubow, Anita Alverez, Lt. Nacy
Dunlap and many others who testify about sex trafficking of children.
The video played during the lecture also shows Human
Rights Investigation footage recordings that involves a few women and mans. An
important quote I got from a speaker “Anita Alverez” who shared some thoughtful statements said, “Putting them in
Juvenile Center doesn’t necessarily help them” and then later on she also
quoted, “We are to help our children.” Some information that was shared at the
end of the video was more information about the “National Human Resource
Trafficking Center.”
After the video, there were
questions being asked and questions being answered. Carol Smolenski, stated
that there are people in other countries who also have sex trafficking with
children and there are people who are finding ways to help them. Relating to "Privilege, Power and Difference" by Johnson, the children are powerless in the adult world. They are powerless physically and mentally in comparison to the adults.She also
shared that in 2008, 45% of women are sexually involved in hotel rooms and
employers wanted to help but are silenced because they have no power. She also
stated that companies such as McDonald and Crayola are signing a letter to
support children’s rights.
Some interesting facts that
were shared were that ECPAT-USA has trained people to find the child who are
being sold into slavery. There are also all source of enforcement for sex trafficking
and for traffickers, they have two choice; they can be prosecuted or go to the John
school. The John School is a school for those who are prostitutes. ECPAT-USA is
located in Brooklyn, NY. Their researches are initially more focused on girls, than
boys, which related to S.C.W.A.M.P. With Female and children being put on the line, male power dominates the society and some might support the child/ women sex trafficking. With Smolenski also stated that many are sex trafficking victims won’t
publicly speak out because they are afraid of being disliked. Smolenski then
continued that there are high rated of LGBT people who are so the victims in
trafficking, which relates to "Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden Places" by Allan, Atkinson et al.
Here Is the Website where you can check for more information, along with other websites that are similar to ECPAT:
