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that people are trafficked into countries like Britain or the United States, but they are. They are also trafficked within these countries, often by kidnappers or through the sex industry. The next time you drive by a prostitute, strip club, or walk by the X rated section of the video store, do not feel self-righteous. These girls may not have had a choice. They may have been abused if they refused to stand on the street. Their oppressors may have made threats against their lives or those of their families. While this is certainly not the case every time, how can you be sure?

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan once said that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was ended because there were enough people who cared enough to stop it. He also says, "We must approach today's abuses in the same spirit- each of us seeking, not to blame somebody else, but to think what we can do hasten their end... There is no evil so entrenched that it cannot be eradicated. Inspired by the abolitionists of two centuries ago, let us fight against exploitation and oppression and stand up for freedom and human dignity" (cited by Chalke, p. 32).

As consumers and fellow human beings, we have the power to take away the power of these traffickers. Like Harriet Tubman and the many abolitionists whom we admire today, let us all become modern day abolitionists. Please see www.stopthetraffik.org for more details about how you can end human trafficking.

Works Cited

Chalke, Steve. Stop the Traffik: People Shouldn't be Bought and Sold. Chicago: Traflagar Square Publishing, 2009.

Stop the Traffik. Stop the Traffik. 2009. 6 June 2009 <www.stopthetraffik.org> .

Learn more about this author, Genenda Milloy.
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