Slavery Then and Now: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Modern Day Human Trafficking: What Can We Learn from Our Past?

Florida A & M University Law Review

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Slavery (en and Now: (e Trans-Atlantic Slave

Trade and Modern Day Human Tra'cking: What

Can We Learn from Our Past?

Stevie J. Swanson

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LAVERY

HEN AND

: T

RANS

TLANTIC

LAVE

RADE AND

ODERN

UMAN

RAFFICKING

: W

HAT

EARN FROM

AST

Stevie J. Swanson

NTRODUCTION

................................................... 128

I. T

OMPARISON OF

LAVERY

HEN TO

LAVERY

.... 131

A. Goals and Rationalizations

........................... 131

B. Slave Price Comparison

............................... 132

C. Life Expectancy and Reproduction

.................... 133

D. Stripped of Their Given Names

....................... 135

E. Branding and Tattooing

.............................. 136

F. Quotas

................................................ 137

G. Brutality Towards Slaves

............................. 138

II. A

BOLITION

................................................ 141

A. A Unified Effort

...................................... 142

B. A Responsibility to Act

................................ 143

C. Religious Reasons

..................................... 145

D. Redemption

........................................... 145

III. T

RIDGE

ETWEEN

LAVERY

HEN TO

LAVERY

. . 146

A. Lynchings

............................................ 146

B. Killing Unarmed Black Men and Boys

................ 147

C. Over-Criminalization and Mass Incarceration

........ 148

D. Education and Jobs

.................................. 150

E. Where Does This Leave Us?

........................... 151

IV. W

AYS TO

OMBAT

ODERN

UMAN

RAFFICKING

..... 152

A. Awareness and Education as a Unified Effort

........ 152

B. A Responsibility to Act

................................ 155

C. Religious Reasons

..................................... 157

D. Redemption and Conclusion

.......................... 157

* Stevie J. Swanson is a Tenured Professor of Law at WMU Cooley Law School. She

graduated from Yale University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts and Distinction in the Ma-

jor in African and African-American Studies. She graduated from the University of

Michigan Law School in 2000 where she was a member of the Michigan Journal of Race and

Law. Professor Swanson teaches Slavery & Human Trafficking, Secured Transactions, and

Property Law at WMU Cooley Law School. She wishes to thank her research assistants

James Klinedinst and Cristina Solis for their assistance with this article. She also wishes to

thank Mary Goodwin whose support was immeasurable. She is grateful to Judd Trichter for

his edits as well.

127

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128

FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

Vol. 11:1:127

NTRODUCTION

“You can’t move forward until you look back.”

The accepted

date for the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is 1502.

The

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade lasted over 350 years, and during that pe-

riod, approximately 9.9 million Africans were enslaved by Europeans

and transported across the Atlantic.

The ramifications of three and a

half centuries of bondage, oppression, and marginalization are far-

reaching, and we are still struggling in the fight for equality. The after-

shocks of our nation’s past still permeate our modern discourse. One

cannot view television, peruse the internet, or listen to the radio with-

out being inundated by stories of unarmed black men and boys being

killed

and single mothers struggling to provide for their children due

to the mass incarceration of black males.

As Ben Affleck recently

stated regarding the controversy surrounding his censorship of

Find-

ing Your Roots

on PBS (concerning acknowledging his slave-owning

ancestors), “we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy

of slavery.”

Undoubtedly, progress has been made, but we still have a

long way to go as a nation to heal our wounds and prevent future injus-

tices. In order to fully comprehend the current racial disparities in

America, we need a more complete understanding of our past.

Many have said that history repeats itself.

Unfortunately, this

is painfully true in the realm of modern day human trafficking. Human

Cornel West Quotes

, G

OODREADS

, http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6176

.Cornel_West (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

2. Robert Fogel,

Slavery in the New World

LAVERY IN

MERICAN

OCIETY

21-22

(Lawrence B. Goodheart et al. eds., 1992).

Id.

See, e.g.

Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts

, CNN (Feb. 11, 2015), http://www

.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/; Rachel Clarke & Christopher

Lett,

What Happened When Michael Brown Met Officer Darren Wilson

, CNN (Nov. 11,

2014), http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/08/us/ferguson-brown-timeline/.

5. M

ICHELLE

LEXANDER

, T

ROW

: M

ASS

NCARCERATION IN THE

GE OF

OLOR

LINDNESS

98 (2010) (noting that one out of every fourteen black men was incarcer-

ated in 2006).

6. Mr. Affleck was featured on the PBS television series

Finding Your Roots

. It was

discovered in researching his ancestry for the series that he had slave-owning ancestors.

Once informed of this fact, Mr. Affleck asked PBS not to include his slave-owning ancestors

in the final cut. There was considerable controversy over the fact that he asked the show to

censor which relatives they presented on the show. Stuart Oldham,

Ben Affleck Apologizes

for PBS Slavery Censorship: “I was Embarrassed”

, V

ARIETY

(Apr. 21, 2015), http://variety

.com/2015/biz/news/ben-affleck-slavery-pbs-censor-ancestors-1201477075/.

See

EORGE

ANTAYANA

, T

IFE OF

EASON

: R

EASON IN

OMMON

ENSE

284

(1905) (“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”).

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

129

trafficking is a thirty-two billion-dollar-a-year industry,

and at pre-

sent, it is estimated that there are approximately twenty-seven million

people enslaved worldwide.

President Obama has stated that human

trafficking is modern day slavery.

Human trafficking is a global

plague, and America is not immune to its death and destruction. Both

sex trafficking

and labor trafficking

are forms of modern day slav-

ery that are present throughout America and the world. In America,

sex trafficking appears online, and at pseudo-massage parlors, truck-

stops, residential brothels, strip-clubs, hotels and motels, and on city

streets.

Labor trafficking in America includes domestic servants, ag-

ricultural laborers, factory workers, door-to-door sales crews, carnival

workers, and health and beauty service providers.

This article compares “slavery then” (the Trans-Atlantic Slave

Trade) to “slavery now” (modern day human trafficking), in an attempt

to remind us of our past so that we may glean insight into how to suc-

cessfully combat the epidemic of modern day human trafficking. This

paper makes the case that civil rights and social justice advocates in

the United States need to pay particular attention to the human traf-

ficking epidemic. Traffickers prey on vulnerable populations. This

article advances the premise that the mass incarceration of black

males often leaves many women and children at greater risk of being

trafficked. It hypothesizes that the aftershocks of the Trans-Atlantic

Slave Trade predispose certain populations to a greater risk of being

re-enslaved today. This article advocates that we must educate our-

selves about the past in order to pave the way for a better future. It

argues that we must come out of our comfort zones and immerse our-

selves in the ugliness of inequality and the brutal details of slavery

(both old and new) in order to protect ourselves, our children, and our

nation from further demoralization. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

once said,

Human Trafficking: Organized Crime and the Multibillion Dollar Sale of People

U.N. O

RUGS

& C

RIME

(July 19, 2012), https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/

2012/July/human-trafficking_-organized-crime-and-the-multibillion-dollar-sale-of-people

.html [hereinafter UNODC].

9. U.S. D

’

TOF

TATE

, T

RAFFICKING IN

ERSONS

EPORT

7 (2013), http://www.state

.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2013/index.htm.

10.

Id.

11.

Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

, P

OLARIS

, http://www.polarisproject.org/human-traffick-

ing/sex-trafficking-in-the-us (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

12.

Labor Trafficking in the U.S

., P

OLARIS

, http://www.polarisproject.org/human-traf-

ficking/labor-trafficking-in-the-us (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

13.

Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

supra

note 11.

14.

Labor Trafficking in the U.S.

supra

note 12.

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

Vol. 11:1:127

[A]ll mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all

caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single gar-

ment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all

indirectly. . . . [I] can never be what I ought to be until you are what

you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I

am what I ought to be — this is the interrelated structure of

reality.

This paper also argues that, because of our collective interconnectivity,

we must empathize. As Cornel West points out, “[e]mpathy is not sim-

ply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but

having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In

a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.”

Furthermore, this article

asks that we be both active and hopeful in our pursuits of justice. Fi-

nally, this article explores the various means of addressing human

trafficking and argues that awareness, education, volunteer efforts,

corporate responsibility in supply chains, and conscientious consumer-

ism, as well as legislative reform, are all imperative to effectuate

positive change and equality.

15. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commencement Address for Oberlin Col-

lege: Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution (June 14, 1965) (transcript available

in Oberlin College Archives, http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/BlackHistoryMonth/

MLK/CommAddress.html) [hereinafter Oberlin Commencement Address].

16.

Cornel West Quotes

supra

note 1.

17. The inspiration for this article came while I was on sabbatical in 2012. I was doing

research to create an elective course on racial discrimination and the law when I heard that

there was a nearby symposium on human trafficking. Like many people, I had almost no

knowledge of modern slavery, and I thought that human trafficking was only an issue else-

where. I was floored to discover the vast global magnitude of the problem and that it was

present in all fifty states here in America. Having majored in African-American Studies in

college, I came to law school almost two decades ago to fight for equality and justice. A

lightbulb ignited in my head at that symposium, and I knew how I wanted to help. I ap-

proached my colleague and an orchestrator of the symposium, E. Christopher Johnson, Jr.,

about the idea of marrying my elective course on racial discrimination in America with mod-

ern day human trafficking; thus, our class “Slavery Then and Now” was born. My idea was

twofold: on one hand, that students, law students in particular, needed to have a greater

understanding of the historical horrors of slavery in America to be better informed advo-

cates in the fight for equality and justice now; and on the other hand, that by examining the

past, these future lawyers might have greater insight into how to eradicate human traffick-

ing in the modern era. In the first half of the course, students explore a statistical and

demographic overview of the Transatlantic-Slave-Trade; slave life; revolt, rebellion, and re-

ligion; abolition; post-bellum aftershocks; The Civil Rights Movement; and finally, the mass

incarceration of black males in the modern era, what Michelle Alexander calls “The New

Jim Crow.” In the second half of the course, the students delve into an overview of the

definitions of sex and labor trafficking and the extent of trafficking present at global, na-

tional, and local levels; victim identification and victim’s services; international, federal,

and state laws that combat trafficking; corporate responsibility in supply chains and consci-

entious consumerism; the modern day abolitionist movement; and finally, creative ways to

reduce and prevent trafficking and assist survivors.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

131

In the first section of this article, I compare and contrast slav-

ery then with slavery now. In the next section, I discuss the importance

of confronting modern day human trafficking head-on, focusing on the

importance of preventing the further marginalization of those groups

previously oppressed. In the final section of this article, I suggest a

variety of ways to combat modern day slavery.

I. T

OMPARISON OF

LAVERY

HEN TO

LAVERY

A. Goals and Rationalizations

Frederick Douglass, reflecting on the slave trade, said in 1871

that the goal of slaveholders in the Trans-Atlantic-Slave-Trade “was to

make the most money they could in the shortest possible time. Human

Nature is the same now as it was then.”

Douglass’s statement still

rings true in 2015.

The greed has metastasized with technological

advancements, consumerism, globalization, and population increase.

“The discovery and conquest of the Americas, rise of capitalism, and

emergence of a global economy, among other key developments over

the past 500 years, have merely intensified and transformed forms of

human trafficking and bondage long present across most cultures

worldwide.”

As evidence of the intensification, compare the 9.9 mil-

lion Africans transported across the Atlantic from the 1500’s to the

1800’s to the 27 million people currently enslaved in 2015.

The num-

bers are staggering, “more than twice as many people are in bondage in

the world today than were taken from Africa during the entire 350

years of the Atlantic slave trade.”

The goal of slavery then, just as slavery now, was to make

money. The rationalizations for slavery may have shifted though, as

the demographics of the enslaved have changed. Though there were

many justifications for slavery then, some even biblical,

a primary

rational was the inferiority of the African.

According to a Virginia

case from 1825, every Negro is presumed to be a slave.

18. K

EVIN

ALES

& R

OODALTER

, T

LAVE

EXT

OOR

3 (2d ed. 2009).

19. UNODC,

supra

note 8.

20. Brooke N. Newman,

Historical Perspective: Slavery over the Centuries

UMAN

RAFFICKING

NTERDISCIPLINARY

ERSPECTIVES

24 (Mary C. Burke ed., 2013).

21. Fogel,

supra

note 2.

22. B

ALES

& S

OODALTER

supra

note 18, at 3.

23. D

AVID

RION

AVIS

, I

NHUMAN

ONDAGE

: T

ISE AND

ALL OF

LAVERY IN THE

ORLD

35 (2006).

24. T

HOMAS

EFFERSON

, N

OTES ON THE

TATE OF

IRGINIA

165-67 (1787).

25. Maria v. Surbaugh, 23 Va. (2 Rand. 228) (1824).

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

Vol. 11:1:127

Other races were enslaved in the United States during the pe-

riod of the Trans-Atlantic-Slave Trade as well. In New Jersey and

Pennsylvania, for example, Native Americans were enslaved. As a

court held in 1797, “They [Native Americans] have been so long recog-

nized as slaves in our law, that it would be as great a violation of the

rights of property to establish a contrary doctrine at the present day,

as it would be the case of Africans; and as useless to investigate the

manner in which they originally lost their freedom.”

A white woman and her children could also be enslaved if the

woman was convicted of marrying a slave, pursuant to a 1787 case

from Maryland.

Though there were other races enslaved in the

United States during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, it was ingrained

in American jurisprudence that being black meant being a slave. A Vir-

ginia court held in 1811 that, after inspection, “in the case of a person

visibly appearing to be of a slave race, it is incumbent on him to make

out his freedom; but in the case of a person visibly appearing to be of a

free race, it is required of his adversary to show that he is a slave.”

a dispute over whether a contract had been made between a black man

and a white one prior to abolition, the United States Supreme Court

found that no contract had been made by the black man (despite evi-

dence indicating that his mother was free)

because “his color was

presumptive proof of bondage.”

Nowadays, slaves (in America and

globally) come in every race, ethnic group, religion, and sexual orienta-

tion, so the historical justification of inferiority no longer rings true in

all contexts.

At its essence, slavery, both then and now, was, and is, a

“product of individual self-interest operating at a global level.”

Mod-

ern day “trafficking does not discriminate, it just exploits.”

B. Slave Price Comparison

During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, slaves were very expen-

sive. In 1850, a slave would have cost approximately $40,000 in

26. State v. Van Waggoner, 6 N.J.L. 374, 376 (N.J. 1797).

27. Butler v. Craig, 2 H. & McH. 214 (Md. 1787).

28. Hook v. Pagee, 16 Va. (2 Munf. 379, 386) (1811).

29. Ned v. Beal, 5 Ky. (2 Bibb 298, 299) (1811) (“The general rule is, that the children

follow the condition of the mother, at the time of their birth. . . .”).

30. Hall v. United States, 92 U.S. 27, 30 (1875).

31. B

ALES

& S

OODALTER

supra

note 18, at 6.

32. D

AVIS

supra

note 23, at 254.

33. Adriana Hauser & Mariano Castillo,

A Heavy Toll for the Victims of Human Traf-

ficking

, CNN (Aug. 26, 2013), http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/miami-sex-trafficking/.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

133

modern money.

Modern slaves are far less expensive. Some experts

estimate that a person can be purchased for as little as a few hundred

dollars,

while others state that a victim of Domestic Minor Sex Traf-

ficking can be purchased for $2,500-$3,500.

Because the price of a

human being has decreased so precipitously over time, there is an

“endless supply of victims.”

People have truly become disposable.

C. Life Expectancy and Reproduction

During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the life expectancy of a

slave depended on his or her location. “In the British and French West

Indies, in Dutch Guyana, and in Brazil, the death rate of slaves was so

high, and the birth rate so low, that these territories could not sustain

their population levels without large and continuous importations of

Africans.”

In Barbados, slaves did not live longer than sixteen years

after being brought to the island.

The United States, by comparison,

“became the leading user of slave labor in the New World, not because

it participated heavily in the slave trade but because of the unusually

high rate of natural increase.”

Just because there was a high rate of

reproduction, or natural increase, in the United States during the

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, does not mean that slaves lived long lives.

Regarding slaves in the South-Western States, “[a] large majority of

them are

old

at middle age, and few live beyond fifty-five.”

American

slaves “were

over-worked

to a degree that shortened life.”

In Louisi-

ana, Alabama, and Mississippi, slaves on sugar plantations were

driven so hard that they had to be replaced every seven years.

Unfortunately, horrifying historical statistics regarding low life

expectancy for enslaved persons are not limited to the Trans-Atlantic

Slave Trade. The generally accepted lifespan of a victim of modern day

34. B

ALES

& S

OODALTER

supra

note 18, at 6.

35.

See id.

36. L

INDA

MITH

& C

INDY

OLOMA

, R

ENTING

ACY

: A S

TORY OF

MERICA

’

ROSTITUTED

HILDREN

xxi (2013).

37.

Id.

at 48 (quoting Drew Oosterbaan, Department of Justice, Criminal Division,

Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section at the National Training Conference

on the Sex Trafficking of America’s Youth (Sept. 15, 2008)).

38. Fogel,

supra

note 2, at 33.

39. O

LAUDAH

QUIANO

, T

NTERESTING

ARRATIVE OF THE

IFE OF

LAUDAH

QUI-

ANO

USTAVUS

ASSA

THE

FRICAN

211 (1789).

40. R

OBERT

ILLIAM

OGEL

, W

ITHOUT

ONSENT OR

ONTRACT

: T

ISE AND

ALL OF

MERICAN

LAVERY

33 (1989).

41. T

HEODORE

WIGHT

ELD

, A

MERICAN

LAVERY

: T

ESTIMONY OF A

HOUSAND

ITNESSES

38 (1839).

42.

Id.

at 97.

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

Vol. 11:1:127

sex trafficking is seven years from when he or she is first trafficked.

Blue Heart International places the life expectancy even lower, stating

three to seven years as the life expectancy.

This unusually high

death rate is easily understood in the context of the sex trade. Sex traf-

ficking victims are forced to service, on average, ten to fifteen buyers

per night.

At peak times, victims of sex trafficking have been pur-

chased by thirty to fifty buyers per day.

Primary causes of death for

sex trafficking victims are “attack, abuse, STD’s, overdose, malnutri-

tion, or suicide.”

From a reproductive standpoint in the modern context, victims

of both sex and labor trafficking are not encouraged to reproduce. In

the labor trafficking arena, common sense dictates that a pregnant wo-

man may be less able to work as efficiently and would, thereafter, be

encumbered by her infant if allowed to keep the baby. Additionally,

pregnant victims of labor trafficking are often denied medical care by

their traffickers for fear of getting caught.

This contributes to high

death rates in both mother and child. Take fifteen-year-old victim of

labor trafficking, Jacinta, a Florida orange grove laborer, as an exam-

ple; she was forced to have her baby in an overcrowded house where

she was kept prisoner with her father, brother, and twenty other peo-

ple, because her trafficker did not want the hospital employees to ask

questions and cause problems.

Victims of sex trafficking are rarely allowed to reproduce while

being trafficked, and are often so injured from the abuse that they have

suffered in the sex industry that they are incapable of reproduction

even if they escape.

Victims of sex trafficking are compelled by their

43. Hauser & Castillo,

supra

note 33;

see

Tayia Jones-Castillo, Tex. Dep’t of State

Health Servs.,

Somebody’s Daughter: Understanding Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

, http:/

/www.ncfh.org/uploads/3/8/6/8/38685499/domestic_minor_sex_trafficking.pdf; Written

Statement of William C. Woolf, III, to H. Appropriations Comm. Subcomm. on Commerce,

Justice, Science and Related Agencies Hearing on Sex Trafficking (Feb. 26, 2014),

ONEY

AND THE

ORGOTTEN

ICTIM

, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP19/20140226/

101774/HHRG-113-AP19-Wstate-WoolfD-20140226.pdf [hereinafter Woolf Statement].

44.

Statistics

, B

LUE

EART

’

, http://blueheartinternational.org/statistics/ (last vis-

ited Nov. 20, 2015).

45. L

INDA

A. S

MITH ET AL

., T

ATIONAL

EPORT ON

OMESTIC

INOR

RAFFICK-

ING

: A

MERICA

’

ROSTITUTED

HILDREN

20 (2009).

46. Laura J. Lederer & Christopher A. Wetzel,

The Health Consequences of Sex Traf-

ficking and Their Implications for Identifying Victims in Healthcare Facilities

, 23 A

NNALS

EALTH

L. 61, 72 (2014).

47.

Statistics

supra

note 44.

48.

See, e.g.

, Nancy Kinnally,

Foundation Investments in the Fight Against Human

Trafficking Continue to Pay Dividends

, F

. B. N

EWS

(Oct. 1, 2014).

49.

Id.

50. Lederer & Wetzel,

supra

note 46, at 79.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

135

traffickers to terminate pregnancies.

One survivor of sex trafficking

reported having seventeen abortions during the period that she was

trafficked, at least some of which were forced.

Wherever one stands

on the abortion issue, it is important to recognize that victims of sex

trafficking are being raped multiple times a day, some for several

years, until they escape or die.

Assuming conservatively that the vic-

tim is raped 10 times per day, multiplied by 365 days in a year, and by

the average 7-year life expectancy, comes to 25,550 rapes per victim

until death or rescue. “[T]he phenomenon of forced abortion as it occurs

in sex trafficking transcends the political boundaries of the abortion

debate, violating both the pro-life belief that abortion takes innocent

life and the pro-choice ideal of women’s freedom to make their own re-

productive choices.”

Whether raped by their masters during the

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and forced to give birth to children that

would suffer a lifetime of bondage and brutality, or raped by buyers of

commercial sex in modern day sex trafficking and forced to abort their

babies, female slaves then and now suffer a unique and horrendous

hardship.

D. Stripped of Their Given Names

A similarity between slavery then and now is the practice of

slave holders/traffickers stripping the enslaved of their given names.

The process is dehumanizing and serves to disassociate the enslaved

from any previous normalcy. Slaves are classified as chattel, “or items

of personal property capable of being bought, sold, hired, mortgaged,

bequeathed to heirs, and moved from place to place.”

A slaveholder

gives his chattel a slave name in much the same way a pet owner

chooses a name for his dog.

During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, “[t]he children of Africa

entered the New World with names that represented their family heri-

tage in their homeland. However, the vast majority of those names

were replaced with European names forced upon them by slave trad-

ers.”

The inability to choose one’s name was further exacerbated in

America by the inability of slaves to legally marry one another in most

51.

See id.

at 73.

52.

Id.

at 73-74.

53.

Id.

54.

Id.

at 74.

55. Newman,

supra

note 20, at 27.

56. Melvin J. Collier,

Ain’t Gonna Take Massa’s Name

, R

OOTS

EVEALED

(Apr. 4, 2012),

http://rootsrevealed.blogspot.com/2012/04/aint-gonna-take-massas-name.html.

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places.

Can you imagine not being able to take your spouse’s name

because your marriage is not legally recognized?

In the modern context of sex trafficking, children and adults are

forced to use the names chosen for them by their traffickers. Victims of

sex trafficking are “usually given a new street name designed to pro-

voke the fantasy. Her old name is discarded. She is now Lacy, Star,

Cherry, Sugar, or some such.”

Once removed from trafficking, victims

resume the use of their given names as part of the healing process.

E. Branding and Tattooing

During slavery both then and now, branding/tattooing has been

utilized on the body of the enslaved as an indicia of ownership. A

couple of examples of branding follow from the advertisements placed

in local newspapers by slave holders seeking their runaway slaves in

the 1800’s. In an advertisement in the Raleigh “Standard” on July 18,

1838, Micajah Ricks stated “Ranaway, a negro woman and two chil-

dren; a few days before she went off, I burnt her with a hot iron on the

left side of her face, I tried to make the letter M.”

R.P. Carney stated

in an advertisement, on December 22, 1832, in the “Mobile Register”

the following: “One hundred dollars reward for a negro fellow Pompey,

40 years old, he is branded on his left jaw.”

In modern day human trafficking, branding/tattooing is so prev-

alent that the Florida legislature passed a law prescribing the penalty

for traffickers who brand their victims as a second-degree felony.

Special Agent Patrick Fransen with the FBI explained how traffickers

use tattoos on their victims:

The tattoo is used for many reasons, for that pimp to show off

amongst his friends, to show that she is his property, and to tell her

that she is not a human being. He is tagging her as his property,

just like a barcode. Another reason a pimp would brand his victim

is for psychological control, and every time she sees his name or his

logo on her body it tells her that she belongs to him.

57. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese,

Slave Women

LAVERY IN

MERICAN

OCIETY

174

(Lawrence B. Goodheart et al. eds., 1992).

58. S

MITH

& C

OLOMA

supra

note 36, at 34.

59.

See id.

at 158.

60. W

ELD

supra

note 41, at 198.

61.

Id.

at 77.

62. F

. S

TAT

. § 787.06(4)(b) (2015).

63. Courtney Gilmore,

Scars of a Human Trafficking Victim

, C

LICK

OUSTON

COM

(Mar. 6, 2014), http://www.click2houston.com/news/scars-of-a-human-trafficking-victim/248

34132.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

137

Branding or tattooing can be a painful reminder of a horrific

past and can be an impediment to moving forward once the victim is

removed from the trafficker. There have been instances of trafficked

women with “SLUT” tattooed on their knuckles or a trafficker’s name

tattooed on woman’s eyelids.

How do survivors of trafficking like

these find gainful employment under these circumstances? How do

they pay for an expensive and still imperfect tattoo removal procedure

if they do not have a job?

F. Quotas

Quotas enforced by violence play(ed) a part in both the Trans-

Atlantic Slave Trade and modern day human trafficking. As Cornelius

Johnson, who lived in Mississippi in 1837 and 1838, observed:

It is the common rule for the slaves to be kept at work fifteen hours

in the day, and in the time of picking cotton, a certain number of

pounds is required of each. If this amount is not brought in at

night, the slave is whipped, and the number of pounds lacking is

added to the next day’s job; this course is often repeated day to

day.

In modern day sex trafficking, a quota is “a set amount of

money that a trafficking [girl] must make each night before she can

come ‘home.’ Quotas are often set between $300 and $2000.”

There

are penalties for not meeting the trafficker’s quota: “If the victim re-

turns without meeting the quota, she is typically beaten and sent back

out on the street to earn the rest.”

Through whatever means necessary (including forced theft), the

woman or girl must reach these quotas each night to be allowed to

eat or sleep. If she does not make enough money, the woman or girl

will be forced back out into her venue of commercial sex until she

reaches her quota. Quotas are strictly enforced, and the punish-

ment for failing to meet a quota is severe physical retaliation from

the pimp or other torture methods.

64. Selah Freedom, Presentation at WMU Cooley Law School: Human Trafficking

(Summer 2014).

65. W

ELD

supra

note 41, at 36.

66. S

MITH

& C

OLOMA

supra

note 36, at xx. Note that men, women, children, and trans-

gendered individuals are all trafficked.

see also

ELD

supra

note 41.

104. Prince,

supra

note 103.

105. D

AVIS

supra

note 23, at 263.

106. W

ELD

supra

note 41, at iii.

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

Vol. 11:1:127

newspapers of the slave states. This text is educational awareness at

its finest.

Some abolitionists like Harriet Tubman directly rescued slaves

and transported them to safety. Harriet Tubman was a conductor on

the Underground Railroad and was called the “Moses of her people.”

107

She once said, “On my underground railroad I nebber run my train off

de track and I nebber los’ a passenger.”

108

She personally rescued over

three hundred slaves.

109

Given how dangerous it was for her, a run-

away slave, to repeatedly immerse herself in these dangerous

missions, it is truly remarkable that she never lost one of them. Her

accomplishments are even more miraculous when you consider that

she orchestrated these elaborate missions while illiterate.

110

One

source suggested that as she heard her wanted-poster read aloud

describing that she was illiterate she grabbed a book and pretended to

read it to evade capture.

111

Not all abolitionist action was peaceful. John Brown was a fer-

vently religious abolitionist who attempted to raid a federal arsenal at

Harper’s Ferry Virginia in 1859 and distribute the weapons to

slaves.

112

His attempt failed, and during the raid, he was injured, cap-

tured, imprisoned, and ultimately executed for a crime, but became a

martyr for the anti-slavery cause in the process.

113

Frederick Douglass

said of John Brown that it was “as though his own soul had been

pierced with the iron of slavery,” in spite of the fact that he was a white

man.

114

In a letter Brown wrote from prison on December 2, 1859, he

stated that he was quite certain “that the crimes of this guilty land:

will never be purged away; but with Blood.”

115

Many have asserted

that he was a prophet—certainly his prediction was accurate.

107. C

ATHERINE

LINTON

, H

ARRIET

UBMAN

: T

OAD TO

REEDOM

146-47 (2004).

108.

Id.

109.

Id.

110.

Harriet Tubman

, PBS.

ORG

, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html (last

visited Nov. 20, 2015).

111.

Id.

112. J

ONATHAN

ARLE

, J

OHN

ROWN

’

AID ON

ARPERS

ERRY

: A B

RIEF

ISTORY WITH

OCUMENTS

25 (2008).

113.

Id.

114. S

TEPHEN

B. O

ATES

, T

URGE

HIS

AND WITH

LOOD

: A B

IOGRAPHY OF

OHN

ROWN

63 (1984).

115. E

ARLE

supra

note 112, at 103.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

145

C. Religious Reasons

In the early 1800’s, religious revivals emerged as the essential

instrument for “creating a righteous society capable of fulfilling

America’s high ideals.”

116

This religious fervor became concentrated on

eradicating the “great national sin” of slavery.

117

This religious ardor is

reflected above in the fundamental conviction discussing the intolera-

ble evils of society.

118

In order to save oneself from purgatory, it was

necessary to eradicate the greatest of all sins—slavery.

D. Redemption

Fundamental conviction in which the goal of all reform is to free

individuals from being manipulated liked animals

119

stands for the

proposition that, to save ourselves, we must save one another. Freder-

ick Douglass once said that “where justice is denied, where poverty is

enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to

feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade

them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

120

Douglass’s state-

ment intimates that we will destroy all of us if we do not uplift some of

us. The greed and hatred of some will lead to the downfall of everyone.

As abolitionist Wendell Phillips explained,

None know what it is to live, till they redeem life from its seeming

monotony by laying it a sacrifice on the altar of some great cause

. . . Slavery, by the necessity of its abolition, has saved the freedom

of the white race from being melted in luxury or buried beneath the

gold of its own success.

121

Fighting for abolition gave life a purpose and greater meaning—not to

mention a much greater shot at salvation—in the eyes of revivalist

19th century abolitionists. As Eric Foner noted, abolitionists could ar-

gue not only that slavery was “morally repugnant” but also that “it was

incompatible with the basic democratic values and liberties of white

Americans.”

122

Foner quotes one abolitionist as having said, “we com-

menced the present struggle to obtain the freedom of the slave; we are

116. D

AVIS

supra

note 23, at 251.

117.

See id.

at 252.

118.

See

discussion

supra

Part II.

119.

Id.

120.

Frederick Douglass Quotes

, G

OODREADS

, http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/

18943.Frederick_Douglass (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

121. D

AVIS

supra

note 23, at 254.

122. Eric Foner,

Slavery and the Civil War

LAVERY IN

MERICAN

OCIETY

265-66

(Lawrence B. Goodheart et al. eds., 1992).

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compelled to continue it to preserve our own.”

123

In other words, once

the wheels of justice have been set in motion, it would be ill-advised to

attempt to stop them until they have reached their destination. If we

do abandon our principles of justice and democracy, then we are left

with a hollow and hypocritical shell, too weak to further progress or

engender prosperity for anyone.

III. T

RIDGE

ETWEEN

LAVERY

HEN AND

LAVERY

A. Lynchings

When antebellum slavery ended, racism and inequality did not

evaporate. In many instances, brutality and mob violence escalated af-

ter abolition. Former slave and activist, Ida B. Wells-Barnett,

explained this phenomenon in a pamphlet she published in 1895 on

lynching:

During the slave regime, the Southern white man owned the Negro

body and soul. It was to his interest to dwarf the soul and preserve

the body. Vested with unlimited power over his slave, to subject

him to any and all kinds of physical punishment, the white man

was still restrained from such punishment as tended to injure the

slave by abating his physical powers and thereby reducing his fi-

nancial worth. While slaves were scourged mercilessly, and in

countless cases inhumanly treated in other respects, still the white

owner rarely permitted his anger to go so far as to take a life, which

would entail upon him a loss of several hundred dollars . . . . But

Emancipation came and the vested interests of the white man in

the Negro’s body were lost . . . . In slave times the Negro was kept

subservient and submissive by the frequency and severity of the

scourging, but, with freedom, a new system of intimidation came

into vogue; the Negro was not only whipped and scourged; he was

killed.

124

An unforgettably horrible example of the post-abolition lynchings in

America is that of “Mary Turner, who was seized in the Georgian

night, strung up a tree by her ankles, sliced open with a buck-knife and

forced to watch upside down as the men pulled her unborn baby from

her screaming insides and killed it first.”

125

Lest we rejoice in lynch-

ings as a thing of the past, we should examine the death of 17-year-old

123.

Id.

124. I

B. W

ELLS

-B

ARNETT

THE

ECORD

: T

ABULATED

TATISTICS AND

LLEGED

AUSES OF

YNCHING IN THE

NITED

TATES

1895 1 (2005), http://www.gutenberg.org/files/

14977/14977-h/14977-h.htm.

125. R

AWN

AMES

, J

., R

OOT AND

RANCH

: C

HARLES

AMILTON

OUSTON

, T

HURGOOD

ARSHALL

AND THE

TRUGGLE TO

EGREGATION

57 (2010).

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

147

black teen named Lennon Lacy who was found hanged in the fall of

2014 in North Carolina.

126

Lacy was involved in an interracial rela-

tionship with an older white woman and there were several

questionable findings at the scene: a swing set (from which the noose

was hung) that was too tall for him to reach without any nearby props;

the belt and dog leash that were used as a noose did not belong to Lacy;

and the shoes that he was found wearing were not his and were two

sizes too small.

127

B. Killing Unarmed Black Men and Boys

The aftershocks of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade have mani-

fested recently in the numerous news reports of unarmed black men

and boys being killed. One of the dominant stereotypes of black men

during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was the “Buck.” Fox-Genovese

describes the “Buck” as a white caricature of the black man as virile

and threatening.

128

The “most enduring, corrosive racial stereotype in

America: [is] the black-as-criminal mindset.”

129

The stereotype of the

black male as a criminal is an after-effect of slavery. “The black-as

criminal image has been with us at least since the 19th century, when

explicit racism portrayed African-American slaves’ essential nature as

ignorant and savage.”

130

Vilification of historically oppressed groups

can be seen in the modern fear of black males.

131

Whether or not you think that the killers were justified in their

actions, it is undeniable that the news has been filled with unarmed

black males being killed recently by non-black individuals. Trayvon

Martin, age 17, was killed in 2012, in Florida.

132

Michael Brown, age

126. Breanna Edwards,

32-Year-Old Woman Involved with Hanged NC Teen Believes

He Was Murdered

, T

OOT

(Dec. 19, 2014), http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/

12/_32_year_old_woman_involved_with_hanged_nc_teen_believes_he_was_murdered.html.

127.

Id.

128. Fox-Genovese,

supra

note 57, at 167-68.

129. Lisa Bloom,

White People Commit the Most Heinous Crimes, So Why Is America

Terrified of Black Men?

, A

LTERNET

(May 13, 2014), http://www.alternet.org/books/white-peo-

ple-commit-most-heinous-crimes-so-why-america-terrified-black-men.

130.

Id.

131. A parallel to modern day human trafficking can also be seen in the classification of

sex trafficking victims as prostitutes. “Victim advocates say the image of the independent

prostitute, working for herself and selling sex by choice, is rarely accurate.” Susannah Ne-

smith,

Despite Mandate, Fewer Sex Traffickers Go to Prison

, F

. C

FOR

NVESTIGATIVE

EPORTING

(Oct. 25, 2015), http://fcir.org/2015/10/25/despite-mandate-few-sex-traffickers-

go-to-prison/.

132.

Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts

supra

note 4.

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18, was killed in 2014, in Missouri.

133

Eric Garner, age 43, was killed

in 2014, in New York.

134

Tamir Rice, age 12, was killed in 2014, in

Ohio.

135

Walter Scott, age 50, was killed in 2015, in South Carolina.

136

May they all rest in peace with the countless others who have died too

soon.

“Being able to turn a blind eye to things that don’t happen to

you is the essence of privilege. It’s also an abuse of power.”

137

Most of

the commentary asserting that the deaths mentioned in the previous

paragraph were justified that I have observed, either in person or in

print, has come from individuals that were not themselves black males.

This article does not delve into the specific details of these deaths. It is,

however, illustrating an alarming trend in America today—black

males sentenced to death, not by a jury of their peers, but instead by

non-black policemen and safety patrol officers. Some feel that over-

criminalization is the root of this epidemic.

138

C. Overcriminalization and Mass Incarceration

“Overcriminalization has become a national plague. And when

more and more behaviors are criminalized, there are more and more

occasions for police, who embody the state’s monopoly on legitimate vi-

olence, and who fully participate in humanity’s flaws, to make

mistakes.”

139

Michelle Alexander notes that mass incarceration (of

133. Elizabeth Chuck,

The Killing of an Unarmed Teen: What We Know About Brown’s

Death

, NBC N

EWS

(Aug. 13, 2014), http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shoot-

ing/killing-unarmed-teen-what-we-know-about-browns-death-n178696.

134. J. David Goodman & Al Baker,

Wave of Protests After Grand Jury Doesn’t Indict

Officer in Eric Garner Chokehold Case

, N.Y. T

IMES

(Dec. 3, 2014), http://www.nytimes.com/

2014/12/04/nyregion/grand-jury-said-to-bring-no-charges-in-staten-island-chokehold-death-

of-eric-garner.html?_r=0.

135.

Cleveland Boy with Fake Pistol Killed by Police

, T

OLEDO

LADE

(Nov. 24, 2014),

http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2014/11/24/Cleveland-boy-with-fake-pistol-killed-by-po-

lice.html.

136. Ashley Fantz & Holly Yan,

South Carolina Shooting: Officer Charged and Fired;

Protestors Demand Justice

, CNN (Apr. 9, 2015), http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/08/us/south-

carolina-officer-charged-with-murder/.

137. Cera Byer,

To My White Male Facebook Friends

, S

ALON

(Dec. 8, 2014), http://www

.salon.com/2014/12/09/to_my_white_male_facebook_friends/.

138. “Overcriminalization is the act of imposing unbalanced penalties with no relation

to the gravity of the offense committed or the culpability of the wrong doer. It is the imposi-

tion of excessive punishment or sentences without adequate justification.

Overcriminalization can be considered as an abuse of the criminal justice system.”

Over-

criminalization

, US L

EGAL

, http://definitions.uslegal.com/o/over-criminalization/ (last

visited Nov. 20, 2015).

139. George Will,

The Plague of Overcriminalization

, N

’

. (Dec. 10, 2014), http://

www.nationalreview.com/article/394392/plague-overcriminalization-george-will.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

149

black males) has “emerged as a stunningly comprehensive and well-

disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner

strikingly similar to Jim Crow.”

140

Republican Senator Rand Paul from

Kentucky is inclined to agree with her. In testimony before the Senate

Judiciary Committee in 2013, the Senator stated:

If I told you that one out of three African-American males is [pro-

hibited] by law from voting, you might think I was talking about

Jim Crow fifty years ago. Yet today a third of African-American

males are still prevented from voting because of the war on drugs.

The war on drugs has disproportionately affected young black

males. The ACLU reports that blacks are four to five times more

likely to be convicted for drug possession, although surveys indicate

that blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate. The ma-

jority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, but

three-fourths of the people in prison for drug offenses are African-

American or Latino.

141

Mass incarceration of black males reeks of Jim Crow-style discrimina-

tion because, once you are branded a felon, you face “employment

discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational oppor-

tunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion

from jury service.”

142

Denial of public housing is often an issue as

well.

143

How can someone get an education, eat, find a job, and partici-

pate in the democratic process under these circumstances? They often

cannot.

This problem is not just affecting black men, it also has a dis-

proportionate impact on black children. Black children are more likely

to be tried as adults than white children.

144

Black children in adult

prisons are more prone to being physically and sexually assaulted and

will have less access to educational and vocational services as well as

mental and behavioral health treatments than if placed in juvenile

facilities.

145

140. A

LEXANDER

supra

note 5, at 4.

141. Jacob Sullum,

Rand Paul: ‘I Am Here to Ask That We Begin the End of Mandatory

Minimum Sentencing

’, F

ORBES

(Sept. 18, 2013), http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/

2013/09/18/rand-paul-i-am-here-to-ask-that-we-begin-the-end-of-mandatory-minimum-sen-

tencing/.

142. A

LEXANDER

, supra note 5, at 2.

143.

Report of Screening People Out: “Felons Need Not Apply”

UMAN

IGHTS

ATCH

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/usa1104/9.htm (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

144. Stevie Swanson,

Charging Children as Adults and its Disproportionate Effect on

Minorities

, 25 L

. M

AGAZINE

46, 46-47 (2015).

145.

Id.

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D. Education and Jobs

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his book

Why

We Can’t Wait

, that inequality “will not work because it retards the

progress not only of the Negro, but of the nation as a whole.”

146

His

words are just as meaningful now, as they were fifty years ago when he

wrote them. Inequality is unfortunately still plaguing black America

and it is hurting us all. Educational opportunities are not yet equal.

“The federal government has found black students are three times

more likely than whites to be suspended or expelled, a disparity ex-

perts say contributes to lower academic achievement among African-

American students caught in the discipline system.”

147

A recent Stan-

ford University study examined teacher biases and how they affect

disproportionate discipline.

148

The study found that students who were

perceived as black by teachers (for second disciplinary infractions)

were judged by teachers to deserve more severe discipline than stu-

dents who were perceived by teachers to be white (for second

disciplinary infractions).

149

This data is very disturbing since, without

access to equal educational opportunity, it is extremely difficult to pro-

cure gainful and sustained employment.

Unfortunately, there are further impediments to employment

than just educational accomplishment. A study entitled “Are Emily

and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experi-

ment on Labor Market Discrimination,” indicates that “[j]ob applicants

with white names needed to send about ten resumes to get one call

back; those with African-American names needed to send around fif-

teen resumes to get one callback.”

150

The authors of the study also

noted that “[w]hile one may have expected that improved credentials

may alleviate employers’ fear that African-American applicants are de-

ficient in some unobservable skills, this is not the case in our data.”

151

146. R

EVEREND

. M

ARTIN

UTHER

ING

, J

., W

’

AIT

149 (1964).

147. Alex Dobuzinskis,

U.S. Study Finds Teacher Bias in Discipline Toward Black Stu-

dents

, R

EUTERS

(Apr. 15, 2015), http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/16/us-usa-race-

schooldiscipline-idUSKBN0N701C20150416.

148.

Id.

149.

Id.

150. David Francis,

Employers’ Replies to Racial Names

, N

’

UREAU OF

CON

. R

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

151.

Id.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

151

E. Where Does This Leave Us?

There are many Americans who feel that equality has been

achieved between blacks and whites. Several studies indicate that mil-

lennials,

152

particularly Caucasians, feel that since President Obama’s

election there are no longer structural barriers to opportunity encoun-

tered by blacks in the United States.

153

Clearly structural barriers to

opportunity abound. Given all of the research referenced above, it is

appropriate to summarize the American situation on race relations as

follows: black children often grow up in single parent homes because of

the mass incarceration of black males; those children are more likely to

be disciplined with greater severity because of their race; this disci-

pline often leads to suspension, expulsion, and lower rates of academic

achievement; these same children are more likely to be tried as adults

if they commit crimes; once they get out of prison, they still will not be

able to get student loans to obtain an education, public assistance to

help feed and clothe them, or meaningful employment because they are

felons; employment will be especially challenging because they will

more than likely have to “check the box” indicating their criminal past,

and if they happen to have a black sounding name, it will be even more

challenging.

As Judge William H. Harrison, a black man, once said in Nor-

folk, Virginia in 1921, “the Negro is on trial before the court of public

justice to answer the indictment upon the charge of being black.”

154

Black people should not be indicted for being black—their ancestors

built this nation. No one in America would have the opportunities that

they do but for centuries of suffering endured during the Trans-Atlan-

tic Slave Trade. As Langston Hughes wrote in his poem titled

Let

America be America Again

O, let America be America again – The land that never has been yet

– And yet must be – the land where

every

man is free. The land

that’s mine – the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME – Who made

America, Whose sweat and blood, Whose faith and pain, Whose

152. “[A] person born in the 1980s or 1990s.”

Millennial

, D

ICTIONARY

COM

, http://diction-

ary.reference.com/browse/millennial (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

153. Sean McElwee,

Millennials Are More Racist Than They Think

, P

OLITICO

(Mar. 9,

2015), http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/millenials-race-115909.html#.VTrx

YyFVhBc.

154.

Guest Speaker

, N

ORFOLK

J. & G

UIDE

, Jan. 29, 1921, at 4.

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

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hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our

mighty dream again.

155

His words are a call to action. Let us simultaneously remember

the sacrifice and suffering of the history of slavery in this nation, ac-

knowledge its ramifications, and work together to eradicate them.

IV. W

AYS TO

OMBAT

ODERN

UMAN

RAFFICKING

This article presents the reader with countless gruesome

images and depressing statistics. Now is the time to explore and em-

brace potential solutions. Rosa Parks once said “knowing what must be

done does away with fear.”

156

The first step to solving a problem is

awareness that a problem exists. The following sections relate back to

themes discussed in the Abolition section above and expand upon

them.

A. Awareness and Education as a Unified Effort

The first step to combatting trafficking is spreading awareness.

Something as simple as telling friends, family members, and co-work-

ers about human trafficking is enormously helpful. The more aware

people are of the problem, the more likely they are to tell others, and

awareness multiplies. We live in an information age. Nearly everyone

has some form of social media account like Facebook, Twitter, or In-

stagram. Social media is a free way to reach mass quantities of people

instantly with your message. Everyone needs to participate in spread-

ing awareness and can help—Democrats, Republicans, and other

political parties; men, women, and children of all races, ethnicities, re-

ligions, and sexual orientations. Trafficking affects all of those

individuals and can be found in every community. It does not discrimi-

nate on the basis of socio-economic status. “[Human trafficking] has

become disturbingly more prevalent in some of the most affluent sub-

urbs throughout the United States.”

157

No one is immune.

Who is being trafficked? How do you identify them? The Polaris

Project has created an efficient and concise handout regarding victim

155. Langston Hughes,

Let America Be America Again

OLLECTED

OEMS OF

ANGSTON

UGHES

(Arnold Rampersad & David Ernest Roessel eds., 1994), http://www

.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/let-america-be-america-again.

156.

Rosa Parks Quotes

, G

OODREADS

, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/46053

.Rosa_Parks (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

157. Woolf Statement,

supra

note 43.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

153

identification.

158

The organization lists the following characteristics to

identify trafficking victims:

The [i]ndividual in [q]uestion . . . [i]s fearful, anxious, depressed,

submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid; Exhibits unusually fearful

or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement; Avoids eye

contact; Lacks health care; Appears malnourished; Shows signs of

physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or

torture; Has few or no personal possessions; Is not in control of his/

her own money, no financial records, or bank account; Is not in con-

trol of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport); Is not

allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on

being present and/or translating); Claims of just visiting and inabil-

ity to clarify where he/she is staying/address; Lack of knowledge of

whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in; Loss of

sense of time; Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story; Is not

free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes; Is under 18 and is

providing commercial sex acts; Is in the commercial sex industry

and has a pimp/manager; Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only

through tips; Works excessively long and/or unusual hours; Is not

allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work; Owes

a large debt and is unable to pay it off; Was recruited through false

promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work;

High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations

(e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows,

barbed wire, security cameras, etc.).

159

We would all do well to commit this list to memory.

Billboard and television advertising could reach a large number

of people as well. Commercials during major sporting events would

also be helpful. According to the State Department, “[m]ajor sporting

events—such as the Olympics, World Cup, and Super Bowl—provide

both an opportunity to raise awareness about human trafficking as

well as a challenge to identify trafficking victims and prosecute traf-

fickers who take advantage of these events.”

160

A public service

announcement from a survivor of sex trafficking during the Super

Bowl would do wonders to spread awareness. Warnings from law en-

forcement that sex workers are involuntary, and are frequently

children, might discourage some of the “johns.”

161

Perhaps a testimo-

158.

Recognize the Signs

, P

OLARIS

ROJECT

, http://www.polarisproject.org/human-traf-

ficking/recognizing-the-signs (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

159.

Id.

160. O

FFICE TO

ONITOR AND

OMBAT

RAFFICKING IN

ERSONS

, U.S. D

’

TOF

TATE

RAFFICKING IN

ERSONS

EPORT

2014 (2014), http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/

226646.htm.

161. “[T]he customer of a prostitute.”

John

, Y

OUR DICTIONARY

, http://www.yourdiction-

ary.com/john (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

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nial from a little girl being sex trafficked about how she was forced to

service forty-five customers in one day would deter demand.

“You must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth.”

162

To the extent that they feel comfortable doing so, survivors of traffick-

ing should be encouraged to share their stories. Theodore Dwight Weld

was wildly successful in disseminating the horrific details about ante-

bellum slavery by compiling one thousand testimonials of those that

had observed it.

163

A similar approach needs to be taken today. A com-

pilation of testimonials by legislators, judges, attorneys, law

enforcement, social service providers, doctors, psychiatrists and, most

importantly, the survivors themselves, could be enormously effective in

combatting modern-day slavery and fostering awareness.

Education is essential at so many levels. Our children must be

educated about human trafficking. Our pre-teens and teenagers must

be warned against the “Romeo pimp.” Romeo pimps “find it easiest to

manipulate vulnerable girls.”

164

Boys

165

and transgender youths can

also fall prey to Romeo pimps.

166

They present themselves as the vic-

tim’s boyfriend and initially gain their trust, lavish them with gifts and

compliments, and fill whatever void they sense that the victim has in

his or her life, making the victim feel safe, loved, and secure.

167

Our

children need to be instructed as to the signs of trafficking so they can

try to protect themselves from being trafficked, report to proper au-

thorities if they suspect their friends of being trafficked, or recognize

that they are victims of trafficking themselves and seek assistance.

“Even people who are trafficked don’t necessarily identify themselves

as trafficked,” says Nancy M. Sidun, PsyD.

168

The Fairfax County (Vir-

ginia) Public Schools have developed a sixth to twelfth grade

curriculum for trafficking awareness that might be used as a model.

169

162.

Cornel West Quotes

supra

note 1.

163. W

ELD

supra

note 41.

164. Vulnerable girls are those with “low self-esteem, girls from troubled homes, foster

children, runaways, and sometimes mentally disabled.” S

MITH

& C

OLOMA

supra

note 36, at

75.

165. Nicole Norfleet,

New Housing for Trafficked Youth Open to Boys and Girls

, S

TAR

RIBUNE

(Nov. 3, 2014), http://www.startribune.com/local/south/281398021.html.

166. D

OMINIQUE

-S

EPOWITZ ET AL

., W

HAT

EED TO

NOW

: S

RAFFICKING AND

EXUAL

XPLOITATION

, A T

RAINING

OOL FOR

HILD

ROTECTIVE

ERVICES

, A

RIZONA

TATE

NIVERSITY

FFICE OF

RAFFICKING

NTERVENTION

ESEARCH

5, http://www.ct.gov/dcf/

lib/dcf/humantrafficking/pdf/Sex_Trafficking_STIR_ASU_Child_Welfare_brochure.pdf (last

visited Nov. 20, 2015).

167.

Id.

at 2-3.

168. Rebecca A. Clay,

The Unknown Victims of Trafficking

, 45 M

ONITOR ON

SYCHOL

36, 36 (2014), http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/07-08/trafficking.aspx.

169. Woolf Statement,

supra

note 43.

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

155

Obviously, law enforcement, teachers, health care workers, gui-

dance counselors, and the foster care system need to be educated about

human trafficking and trained on how to identify victims, as they are

most likely to interact with trafficked individuals. Other less obvious

service providers, such as bus drivers, should be trained as well. “Traf-

fickers also use services like Greyhound Bus services to move victims

from one location to another, not only because it is a cost effective

method of transportation, but the traffickers know that proper identifi-

cation is not required to purchase or obtain a bus ticket.”

170

Some flight

attendants also receive training in order to spot trafficked individu-

als,

171

as are cosmetologists in Ohio.

172

Since hotel employees are

among those who are the most likely to interact with victims of sex

trafficking, they need training to identify characteristics of traffick-

ing.

173

Every individual who is likely to interact with trafficked victims

should receive training on how to recognize them.

B. A Responsibility to Act

According to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “human

progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the

tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals. [T]he

time is always right to do right.”

174

There are a plethora of ways to get

involved in the fight against human trafficking. Attorneys can do pro

bono work to help victims get their records expunged.

175

They can also

assist non-domestic victims of trafficking in obtaining T-Visas or U-

Visas from the immigration side.

176

We can all volunteer to teach basic

170.

See id.

171.

Be a ‘Force Multiplier’ in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

, A

’

NOF

LIGHT

TTENDANTS

-CWA, http://www.afacwa.org/stop_human_trafficking (last visited Nov. 20,

2015);

see also Flight Attendants Take on Fight Against Human Trafficking

, C

OMM

. W

ORK-

ERS OF

. (July 23, 2015), http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/flight_attendants_take_on

_fight_against_human_trafficking/#.VmXowLgrKUk.

172. Alison Alhamed,

New Course Required for Stylists to Help Spot Trafficking Victims

ODERN

ALON

(Mar. 5, 2015), http://www.modernsalon.com/news/legislative-alerts/new-

course-ohio-stylists-required-to-help-spot-trafficking-vicims.

173. Katia Hetter,

Fighting Sex Trafficking in Hotels, One Room at a Time

, CNN (Mar.

1, 2012), http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/29/travel/hotel-sex-trafficking/index.html?hpt=tr_c1l.

174. Oberlin Commencement Address,

supra

note 15.

175.

Attorneys and Human Trafficking Survivors

, W. F

. C

FOR

RAFFICKING

DVO-

CACY

, http://www.traffickingadvocacy.org/attorney-resources.html (last visited Nov. 20,

2015).

176. G

ULFCOAST

EGAL

ERVS

., I

., http://www.gulfcoastlegal.org/legal-help/immigra-

tion (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

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FLORIDA A & M UNIV. LAW REVIEW

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life skills to survivors, like how to cook;

177

mentor at-risk youth;

178

find

out what items are in need at residential facilities that house traffick-

ing victims and coordinate a donation drive to collect those items;

179

collaborate with a service provider and receive training on how to do

outreach events at local shopping malls;

180

be conscientious consumers

and educate ourselves about what types of products are made with

slave labor;

181

and try to purchase fair trade certified items when pos-

sible.

182

Doctors, dentists, cosmetologists, and psychiatrists can donate

their services on a pro bono basis to survivors of trafficking. Tattoo

artists can donate their services to either remove or reconfigure brands

(tattoos) from traffickers.

183

We can lobby the legislature for new laws that we would like to

see enacted. One suggestion for potential legislation is increased vic-

tim’s services and the availability of punitive damages for victims of

trafficking to collect from their traffickers. Survivors of trafficking are

often left with nothing when they escape and this would help them

relocate and reinvent themselves. Laws should be passed that make it

more difficult for minors to check into hotels unaccompanied. This

would potentially serve as a deterrent to sex trafficking. Minors in all

states should be deemed unable to consent to commercial sex as the

Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 provides on a federal

level.

184

There need to be more laws that prosecute the purchasers of

commercial sex. “Johns” should be publicly shamed and their driver’s

licenses should be copied and put on file so that victims of sex traffick-

ing can pursue them for child support in the future, if the need arises.

Spouses of “johns” should be notified that they have been arrested to

potentially deter the spread of disease and sexually transmitted infec-

tions to an innocent spouse. Corporations should be legally forced to

certify that there is no slave labor in their supply chains. American

177. M

ARY

F. B

OWLEY

, T

HITE

MBRELLA

: W

ALKING WITH

URVIVORS OF

RAF-

FICKING

48 (James Lund & Stephanie S. Smith eds., 2012).

178.

Id.

179. S

ELAH

REEDOM

, I

., http://selahfreedom.com/immediate-needs/ (last visited Nov.

20, 2015).

180.

#Enditmovement: Meeting Survivors’ Needs in the U.S

., W

ORLD

ELIEF

ESPONDS

(Mar. 6, 2014), http://worldreliefresponds.com/enditmovement-meeting-survivors-needs-in-

the-u-s/.

181.

End Trafficking

, UNICEF, http://sfxavier.org/documents/2014/11/Fair-Trade-One-

Pager.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

182. F

REE

ORK

, http://www.free2work.org/ (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

183. Annie Sweeney,

Tattoo Removal Helping a ‘Branding’ Victim Break from Her Past

HICAGO

RIBUNE

(Dec. 27, 2012), http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-27/news/ct-

met-tattoo-removed-prostitution-victim-20121227_1_tattoo-nicole-exotic-dancer.

184. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 §108, 22 U.S.C. § 7106 (2013).

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SLAVERY THEN AND NOW

157

companies should be penalized for outsourcing their work to countries

that have not ratified the Palermo Protocol.

185

This would be a very

effective way of giving teeth to a well-meaning international policy to

deter trafficking.

C. Religious Reasons

Like their involvement in the abolitionist struggles of the ante-

bellum period, religious institutions should continue to be involved in

the fight against modern slavery.

186

The Golden Rule says to “do unto

others as you would have them do unto you.”

187

No one wants to be

oppressed, tortured, marginalized, degraded, starved, or raped—law

and religion dictate that we should refrain from perpetrating that on

others. Christians are taught to “love their neighbors as they love

themselves.”

188

Victims of trafficking are our neighbors, and they need

to be assisted, respected, and helped to heal.

D. Redemption and Conclusion

This paper began with the statement that history repeats it-

self.

189

As this article shows, our nation’s past has frequently been an

ugly one. It is essential to remind ourselves often, and in painful detail,

of the horrors that have been suffered and the injustices that have

been waged in America. How else can we comprehend the magnitude of

our current situation? How else can we heal? If we pretend that noth-

ing is wrong, then nothing can be fixed. Everyone has a responsibility

to stand up against inequality, as inequality affects us all. Lack of ac-

cess to education, over-criminalization, and lack of equal opportunity

to obtain gainful employment are not just “black problems.” They are

American problems.

Modern day slavery is an American problem. It does not dis-

criminate like antebellum slavery. We are all potential victims. As has

been established, the vulnerable among us are most at risk. Let us

come together to accept our shared history, replete with atrocity, and

actively strive towards equality. Let us strengthen ourselves by help-

185. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Wo-

men and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational

Organized Crime, G.A. Res. 55/25, Annex II, U.N. Doc. A/RES/55/25 (Nov. 15, 2000).

186. A

BOLITION

: U

NITING TO

UMAN

RAFFICKING

, http://abolitionnow.com/

get-involved#church (last visited Nov. 20, 2015).

187.

Matthew

7:12.

188.

Galations

5:14.

189. S

ANTAYANA

supra

note 7.

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ing each other to become less vulnerable, and therefore less susceptible

to being trafficked. Cornel West once said, “You can’t lead the people if

you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve

the people.”

190

Let us all try harder to lead and love, and to save and

serve.

190.

Cornel West Quotes

supra

note 1.