This is Houston, newsmakers extra, I’m talking with Rachel Fisher. And
this conversation is one of the more important ones I’ve had on this program
because
as we are in
anti-human trafficking
awareness month,
you with your history and having been in the
in the life and now out, and being a strong, strong Advocate on
the front lines.
What’s the difference between human trafficking
and
prostitution?
Yeah, so prostitution is an industry, right? People
have the whole sex worker debate,
the easiest way to break it down. Is if there’s two people
somebody who’s making a deal with, you know, say sugar bet sugar
baby sugar daddy situation, right? Two grown adults, making
a deal.
You pay me this. I’ll do this for you.
Okay? There?
That’s you know, somebody who’s in a vulnerable situation
and needs her needs met.
That’s a different scenario than if you have a triangle, you have the buyer, the seller
and the sold somebody who’s facilitating the sale of this
Person being sold to a buyer.
Right? So you have a John
that’s buying somebody from somebody.
And so that’s the biggest way to understand trafficking is
with Force fraud or coercion.
If you’re an adult, if you’re a child totally different story, you don’t need those elements.
You can’t sell a child.
So, the biggest difference is
that straight line versus a triangle.
It’s it’s exploitation. If you’re selling another
individual
and it’s a bad set of circumstances if you’re in prostitution and
that’s the only way that you can.
Money
but sometimes you know it’s cultural. It’s what you’ve been born into
you know. Family like my mother was a prostitute. She was being prostituted.
I just thought she was a prostitute in and out of prison. My whole life until
I realized
no she was being prostituted by a criminal organization. There’s
a difference is victim
so
you have to realize that there are other choices otherwise you’re just
going to continue on what’s comfortable. If you think that’s your only choice
do you have people who tell you, you’re amazing for what you do in terms of
your advocacy work and how do you deflect that and keep going
and focus on?
What you think has to be done?
Yeah, I mean, it’s not about me,
right? Like I
feel like I’m counted worthy to suffer, right? Like God, trusted
me with this burden so that I can do something with this. I don’t want
to waste it, but it’s not about me. I mean, I survived
so much that I’m alive
for a reason and I want to make sure that every day that I’m breathing
that
I’m continuing on that purpose. Otherwise, it’s wasted we talked
about the kind of woman who’s most vulnerable to something
like this. Whether it be human trafficking prostitution on, we’ve talked about the differences
of those things.
Yes,
but
you say it’s
it. Socio-economic is it
class? Is it a combination of all of those?
Because I know, you talked about their,
these young women, who have no way to get
out of it,
being
pimped prostituted, whatever
and being taken advantage of, by some rich guy. From River Oaks who
made take a lunch break and go
do something with
a young lady whose underage. Do
you see that happening?
You do and that’s predominantly what it is. So,
Influx of money coming in from somewhere, right? So
you see, I mean, we have bissonnette, which is our track in Houston. It’s the main area
where people are getting in and out of cars, but
you see Ferraris Lamborghinis Rolls-Royce. You see
this influx of money, from the higher socioeconomic class,
coming in and purchasing, right? And then a lot of it’s
done in line. You make dates you go into the hotels and these high-end restaurants,
but
it’s the demand. It’s the hearts of men, the people who are predominantly
buying
and wanting underage girls for their fetishes.
And it just gets more and more perverted.
So
it’s a problem with education awareness and I would hope that
out of 100 men that bought sex in Houston last night. You know, they come in for these
conferences and they stay at these hotels and their employers
give them girls with their rental car. Right? And so it’s a
very well-known thing but what will we
wait? Stop physic.
So you said there’s a circumstance where employers end
up giving
with cars they give girls with
Yeah,
really. So I remember there was times that I would be in a sweet and
we’d have a champagne glass and we’d be just lined up and
you’d have your own hotel Key. And then they’d say, Okay,
gentleman here, pick your girl, go to the room and so they get to pick
the girl and go back.
It’s
sex, is looked at, as you know,
it’s it’s all over everywhere, it’s accepted and people have these
these crazy fetishes with p*** and all this influx of brothels
and massage businesses. So
it’s happening and I would hope that a hundred men that paid for it last
night. If
All the girl got there
that they wouldn’t do it but they just don’t know. So it’s education to the buyers.
The demand the men. They need to know.
Who are you buying and why they’d have to have a heart though to with me? I
mean, in order to be able to understand about the girl because some of the
girls
including yourself who were in the surviving sex trafficking
movie documentary, that I hope you’ll be able to watch
when you hear
about their lives and how they were impacted how hurt they have been
and how they wanted to get out and couldn’t get out.
I was really in pathetic.
I have a
Aren’t there a lot of people out there who really just don’t care? Correct. And
there’s a lot of violence and a lot of really sad broken people,
right? And hurt. People hurt people. And so if you got broken
Brokenness and broken marriages that push you towards that,
you really don’t care. You just want that self gratification and instant gratification,
and they truly believe that we want to be there. And I mean, I’ve done a
lot of research with pimps with John’s and with the girls to get a really well-rounded,
you know, understanding of the problem
and its really sad. When you hear the story of the John, so I do a lot of
John.
Outreaches to and I do work with a lot of The Pimps because I really want to understand.
It’s a very complex problem and
I mean there is a story behind every girl of how she got there.
I saw you
in your interaction with the guys and the Netherlands. I think it
was 2:30 Budapest.
It was it was classic because you
went into
your
it was you change for the conversation with those guys
and
you really,
it was good. You got to watch this, you had to watch the way.
Is that
What you do in order to get the truth from people about
what they’re doing.
So historically, before I, you know, I’m in a movie and on the book
now. So I can’t quite be undercover, but I did a lot of undercover work. So,
I would go in and I had my undercover name and I would kind of see
who’s buying, and selling these girls. And who’s
where are they bringing them from? So I did a lot of that. So you kind of have to go into mode
and
that was the implan. And that segment I was just walking down the street. And these guys
are like,
hey, you want to come work for my family? You want to make a lot of money. They pulled out
cash in front of me
and I was like,
oh,
how much
Money. And so I just played into it to try to get to see who they are. And apparently
it was the biggest you know, trafficking ring in Hungary. So
it
was a big deal but that happens here in Houston, I’ve done that
stuff and those operations
here in Houston
and it’s the people in the business suits is the people driving. The nicest cars, that
you wouldn’t think are actually facilitating this
but they are
and it’s really, really sad.
What do you most need to help you
do? What you do at this point?
I mean, I’m involved with several
Bates Street Grace is one that ends the demand, so
there’s a lot of recovery groups that do shelters and they do the aftermath
but
the nonprofit’s that Target the demand which is the buyers stopping
it before it starts. That’s key. So there’s a few like deliver funds
Street, Grace,
demand disruption. Those are three that Target, the demand here that
helps stop it, like
Street Grace has a chatbot that they intercept messages between
guys trying to buy sex. And they
was like over 10,000
messages that they intercepted between children
in our local schools. And
Expires. And so, they have this chat bar that runs and they work with law enforcement,
but just to see the numbers and to see the skill of how much
it happens
on. The regular here is really scary. So
to find a non-profit like that
and just,
you know, either donate your time, talents are Treasures, whatever it is, just
do something partner up with somebody. That can help you said
something very interesting on the program, they were recording. When you said don’t start
another nonprofit. We got a lot of those just find one. You can help
right. Rachel Fisher. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for your
Using God’s grace, to do what you do, touching people’s lives
in a positive way to help them. Be better. We appreciate you
Houston, newsmakers extra. It is very important that you share this
newsmakers extra
with everyone, you know.