“He didn’t have girlfriends, he had hoes.”
“He put the gun to my head and he asked me if I was scared. I told him no but I was terrified.”
“He punched me in the stomach while I was pregnant with my twins.”
“I heard him threaten to kill Jennifer if she tried to leave him.”
“I learned two lessons that day – what happens when I don’t come home on time and what happens when I don’t bring home any money. I didn’t do those things again.”
“He wanted sex. I told him no over and over again but he raped me with a hot sauce bottle and a soda can. No one helped me. I was crying and bleeding while the other girls walked by.”
These are the voices of trafficking victims in the case of State v. Glen Dukes, women, daughters, mothers, wives, sisters who found themselves alone on the streets. Women whose pasts included abandonment, tragedy, teenage drug addiction, heartbreak and abuse before the trafficker exploded into their lives. He promised a new life, a way out of the streets and into the stability of shelter, regular meals, clothes, a hot shower. He promised a team and a family, a refuge and a safe place. He promised oblivion in the form of crack and heroin, a way to cope with being bought and sold, passed from grubby hand to grubby hand, and a way to forget who they had become. In exchange he took their freedom, their self-governance, their right to question and to challenge, their liberty to decide for themselves what they would do, the very essence of their humanity.
ICT exists to bring justice for these women and the thousands of other men, women, and children being exploited for sex or for labor in the Unites States on a daily basis. It is a fight for the ages, one that strikes at the core of who we are as people and one that we are asking you to join. In the weeks and months ahead we will be sharing stories of that fight, tackling hard issues, celebrating victories, mourning with those who are hurting and talking about what you can do to bring justice case by case and community by community across this country. Join us.
