Transcriber: Nawal Sharabati Reviewer: David DeRuwe
Jeffrey Epstein’s victims went to school every day
and went home to their parents every night ...
and nobody noticed.
Why?
In 2006, federal investigators raided one of my trafficker’s homes
in suburban Texas.
Months later, they surrounded one of our townhomes in Nevada,
and sure that they were on their way to my house next,
I was commanded to take the children and run.
I can remember standing in the backyard, facing the six-foot brick fence,
and throwing my seven-year-old little girl over and dropping her.
The 14-year-old boy I was with interlaced his fingers, hoisted me over,
and then he ran and jumped.
As we crouched down in the neighbor’s backyard,
I can remember vividly staring in their sliding glass door,
terrified that they’d see us -
not terrified of a looming federal investigation,
our homes being raided,
or that child welfare may very well take our kids,
but terrified that the neighbors would see me.
This is the type of brainwash that traffickers employ.
According to the FBI,
less than 1% of sex trafficking in the United States
is stranger abduction.
That means most victims are trafficked by someone that they know and trust.
They get to know you, and then they use manipulation,
gaslighting,
coercion,
and threats of harm to keep you in compliance.
A study by the University of Northern Colorado
shows that domestic human trafficking fits all indicators of cult-like behavior.
Cults replace your ideologies with a new set of beliefs,
and they reinforce it by having you repeat mantras
and creating an us-and-them mentality.
They use food deprivation and sleep deprivation,
social ostracism,
and they isolate you from outside sources of information
and former associates.
Traffickers don’t have you in physical chains
because that doesn’t sell -
sex sells.
They have you in mental ones.
For nearly six years,
I was bought and sold between three different traffickers,
two of which tattooed their names on my back.
I was hospitalized for dehydration and over exhaustion.
I'd been to jail multiple times.
I had several attempted escapes.
And by 21, I had tried to commit suicide twice.
I was trapped in a life of chaos with no hope for escape,
but nobody in my life, including myself,
identified with the phrase “human trafficking.”
Why?
Because right now, sensationalism is fueling misidentification.
Think about it!
When you hear the the phrase “human trafficking,”
what images come to mind?
A quick online search would show pictures of people of duct taped, handcuffed,
thrown in a basement on a dirty mattress.
And we all do this.
We picture this one movie that we saw this one time,
the guy with a special set of skills to come find you,
or you have some bait-click title on the news,
or the one thing that that aunt shared on Facebook.
But as survivors, we grow up in the same communities as all of you.
So we, too, are picturing those same sensational images,
those same myths.
And when our situation doesn’t look like that,
we keep thinking, “Well, I must not being trafficked,
because I wasn’t kidnapped.
I’m not duct taped. I wasn’t thrown.
I’m not locked in the basement.”
Right now, each and every one of us could have a trafficked victim
in our very neighborhoods.
Their kids could be going to school with ours.
They could be standing next to us in the grocery store line,
and no one is noticing.
We’re all looking for the 1% stranger abduction.
And meanwhile,
99% of victims like Epstein’s,
like myself,
and many, many others
are hidden in plain sight, right under our noses.
So how do you spot exploitation?
Well, I’ll tell you - proximity.
The same way you might spot domestic violence or spot alcoholism.
Yes, all of these have red flags and warning signs,
but it ultimately takes being in close proximity with people
to begin to notice those small, subtle clues.
Close your eyes and imagine the most vulnerable needs in your community.
People living in homelessness,
in poverty,
single moms,
marginalized youth,
LGBTQ,
undocumented persons.
If you can picture the needs in your community,
traffickers can too.
Traffickers are targeting vulnerable populations
with the intent to exploit their needs.
They date them,
groom them,
and eventually turn them out.
I know, firsthand.
If you want to fight human trafficking,
you must create systems to help combat vulnerabilities.
We have to start sharing facts and statistics from experts,
not just influencers.
And we have to look at our circles of influence,
where we work, our family, friends, and where we volunteer.
But if someone you know is being exploited,
there are two main things you can remember
that are specific to the crime of human trafficking:
abuse and money.
Human trafficking includes money or monetary possessions
that you may wonder how the person in your close circle can afford:
new clothes,
cars, jewelry,
handbags, phones.
They’ll make frequent trips out of town,
and they’ll have what appears possibly online as a lavish lifestyle.
In conversations, they’ll become more tense,
more on edge,
and they’ll have a heightened emotional response to things.
Then you may even start seeing them less.
They’ll become more isolated,
more secretive,
they won’t be around as much.
They’ll have a complete obedience to their new partner
and maybe even a tattoo with that person’s initials or name.
And of course any signs of physical abuse.
So you want to fight human trafficking?
Learn to create; create solutions to the needs in your community.
Share facts, not conspiracy theories.
And if you are in close proximity with someone,
please remember those two clues:
abuse and money.
This is the way to identify and fight human trafficking.
(Applause)