by Genenda Milloy

Created on: June 06, 2009   Last Updated: June 10, 2009

Slavery is a human rights issue that most Americans view as a dirty part of our history, that we have moved past. Since the Emancipation Proclamation, we have felt ourselves distant from the sins of buying and selling human beings. This is not true. Next to drugs, human trafficking is the most prevalent form of illegal trade in the world today. In fact, the trade of humans is so lucrative, that the total revenue of human trafficking worldwide, is more than double the total revenue of Coca-Cola. In fact, it is believed that human trafficking earns over seven billion dollars annually, worldwide (Stop the Traffik 2009). But we don't know that here. Either that, or we choose not to know.

Our nation's sordid history of kidnapping Africans for sale in the Americas is no secret. People were abused, oppressed and subjected to harsh living conditions. Even after bringing Africans over on ship was no longer permitted, the slave trade ran rampant in our nation, through the buying and selling of descendents of those Africans, often resulting in the separation of families. Sadly, our world today separates itself from our nation's past - a sad part of our history - we wish we could forget.

I say we should never forget it! If we remember our nation's past and are truly disturbed by what happened on these grounds, we should try to make it right. It is, of course, too late to go back in time and set free the thousands of slaves who suffered at the hands of plantations owners. We cannot change the sins of our nation's past, but we can change the sins of the world today.

According to Stop the Traffik (2009), "Trafficking is to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude." Sadly, nearly every one of the aforementioned forms of trafficking takes place in our world today. It is not a problem of the past, it is a problem of all ages.

Families sell their children, sometimes for as little as twenty dollars. In fact, UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year (Stop the Traffick 2009). At least one person is transported across borders every minute, and it is estimated that two to four million people are trafficked within their own countries each year (Stop the Traffik 2009).

Where do you get chocolate? Usually, the beans come from Africa or South America. Although

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