End Slavery Now!

Emancipation Day is inarguably a cause for celebration. Also known as Juneteenth, its origin stems from June 19, 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were now free. Juneteenth commemorates the legal emancipation that came with the Thirteenth Amendment, as well as African American freedom and achievement. Thirty-six states now recognize Juneteenth, America’s “second Independence day,” and a sizable movement continues to push for June 19 to become a national holiday.

There is an irony to Juneteenth, however, that is lost on most of us. If you ask the average American when slavery ended, inevitably they respond with “1865.” And therein lies the tragedy: we all bought the story we were taught in school. So we stopped paying attention to things that looked like slavery, sounded like slavery or even felt like slavery. Although making slavery illegal was a critical milestone for the U.S., the truth is it never ended – it just went underground. It became a hidden crime. Right here, right under our noses, slavery still exists.

True, the visible balls and chains are gone. Modern slavery has evolved, and can fool even the trained eye. Today’s slaves, as documented in the new book The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today, are not only the housekeepers and field hands of yore, they are hotel maids, janitors, manicurists, construction workers, nannies, landscaping crewmembers, restaurant workers and more. People you may see every day. Hidden in plain sight.

For the slave, however, the experience is still the same as it ever was. Controlled by violence, unable to walk away, and paid nothing beyond subsistence.

The U.S. State Department estimates between 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked to America every year to become slaves, from at least 35 countries. At any given moment there are conservatively 40,000 people in slavery in the U.S. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline (1-888-373-7888), operated by Polaris Project, received over 7,000 calls last year. A study by Free the Slaves and the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, found that forced labor operations had been reported in at least 90 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2003; the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has worked together with the Department of Justice and the FBI to uncover, investigate and federally prosecute seven cases of modern-day slavery in Florida’s fields alone. And not all victims are foreign-born – modern slaves include U.S. citizens as well, particularly children enslaved in the commercial sex industry.

So now you know. We Americans have a dirty secret. We make all kinds of noise about human rights abuses in other countries, but the greatest human rights abuse of all – slavery – is happening right here. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t unlearn it. Yes, you can choose to turn your back. Or you can join those of us who are standing up and saying, “Not on my watch.”

We pledge allegiance to a republic that promises “liberty and justice for all.” But there is much to be done before America delivers on this promise. We need stronger laws criminalizing all aspects of human trafficking. We need greater funding for victims services and rehabilitation. We need better training for law enforcement. And we need to teach our citizens to recognize modern slavery and identify victims – about a third of the slaves freed in the U.S. every year are rescued because an average person sees something he or she can’t ignore. We need all the boots on the ground we can muster.

Realizing a legal emancipation in the 19^th century was an incredible achievement, but there is still much work to be done. Abolishing slavery didn’t end slavery. Let’s put our money where our mouth is and put in place the programs we need to make America truly the “land of the free.” Let’s set an example for the rest of the world – let’s finish the job we started and eradicate this scourge from our great country, forever. Then, by all means, let’s celebrate.

Dr. Kevin Bales

President

Free the Slaves

Co-author, The Slave Next Door

Bill Bernstein

Deputy Director

Mosaic Family Services

Ron Soodalter

Co-author, The Slave Next Door

Lauren Taylor

Founder & President

End Slavery Now