Not for sale

This Thursday, Adrian College will welcome to its campus Prof. David Batstone of the University of San Francisco. Prof. Batstone will be speaking on the subject of modern slavery, known as human trafficking.

UPDATE: Adrian College had serious tech issues and couldn't get their projector to play Batstone's multimedia presentation. He did speak quite informatively and passionately for about an hour. It seems that he wants to enlist college students to observe and report on human trafficking in their state so that local law enforcement may become aware of the seriousness of the problem. I felt that he spoke very respectfully about the church or other faith communities and their willingness to step up and act.

According to Batstone, an estimated 27 million people are coerced to labor under terms not of their own volition, which is another way of describing slavery. Millions of young girls are promised jobs in another country, but are then forced to work as prostitutes and sex workers.

According to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice,

Trafficking in persons is a modern-day form of slavery, a new type of global slave trade. Perpetrators prey on the most weak among us, primarily women and children, for profit and gain. They lure victims into involuntary servitude and sexual slavery. Today we are again called by conscience to end the debasement of our fellow men and women. As in the 19th century, committed abolitionists around the world have come together in a global movement to confront this repulsive crime. President George W. Bush has committed the United States Government to lead in combating this serious 21st century challenge, and all nations that are resolved to end human trafficking have a strong partner in the United States.

Additional information may be found at the web site of the US State Department or at that of the United Nations.

Of course, we do not need to simply rely on the efforts of the government to get things done. Dr. Batstone’s book, “Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—and How We Can Fight it” is not only required reading for freshman at Adrian College, it also is the call for action described on the web site “Not For Sale.” There can be found opportunities for schools and faith-based organizations to become involved.

I’m simply directing you to follow up by going to the web sites I’ve linked to in this blog in order to discover the ugly truth that slavery has not really been eliminated from our planet. I would also be willing to give extra credit to any student who would be interested in attending the Batstone presentation at Adrian College this Thursday and preparing a brief written report, which may be posted on this blog as well. Finally, if this is an issue that moves you, perhaps our student council could consider some ways in which our community could get involved and raise funds for the cause of abolition.

UPDATE: This opinion piece appeared today on townhall from Kathleen Parker, which means that it will be syndicated next week and appear in the Daily Telegram. In it, she alerts her readers to two soon-to-be-released movies on the theme of human trafficking--"Sold" and "Trade."