"Not for Sale" campaign exposes sex trafficking in Atlanta

"Kay" was a young girl living in India when she was taken to Massachusetts by a pastor where she worked cleaning his house and his church. She was paid nothing. And she was raped night after night. Kay's story, and several others like it, were shared Friday night by David Batstone, founder of the "Not for Sale" campaign. The event, held at Midtown Community Church as part of the organization's traveling presentation on modern-day slavery around the world and in the United States. The church hosted the event for the campaign, and also gave a presentation on the sex-trafficking industry in Atlanta, with Georgia State students in attendance as well as others from the area. In the video presentation, Lacey Passman, social activist and organizer of the event for the church, shared facts on the issue and ways to get involved. According to Passman's presentation, the FBI has declared 14 cities within the United States to be centers for the sex-trade industry, and Atlanta is listed as number one. Others include New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Dallas. Also at the event was musician and activist Justin Dillon. He shared video footage of interviews with public officials giving their thoughts on modern-day slavery. Among them was Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, and John Miller, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large on Human Trafficking. He also performed pieces he wrote in response to the issue of slavery. Dillon says he writes music to highlight the issues of slavery. He also says he works with other artists to spread the knowledge of modern-day slavery through a project called Concert to End Slavery (concerttoendslavery.com). Between songs, Dillon showed two clips from the upcoming movie release "Trade." In theaters Sept. 28, "Trade" according to Dillon re-enacts stories of women and girls from across the globe whom are taken into the human trafficking industry. Several Georgia State students attended the event, and Brian Steele was among them. Steele, a senior majoring in economics, attends the church and has recently become interested in the issue. "With my economics degree, I'm really starting to develop an interest for justice," Steele said of his desire to attend "Not for Sale." "I'm hoping to see what I can do with economic development and poverty." Morganne Lee is another Georgia State student who attended the event. Lee, a sophomore, said she learned that one of the major locations for sex trafficking in Atlanta is Moreland Ave. and I-20, which is close to her house. "I knew that Atlanta was one of the biggest cities for it," Lee said. "It makes it a big deal when you realize it is your city. And it makes it a bigger deal when it's your neighborhood. It's scary, but it's good to know." The knowledge she acquired Friday resulted in anger, Lee said. "The kind of anger that makes you want to cry because they're showing pictures of people, and at the same time it makes you angry because of what's going on." "I think it's really important that they're aware of it," Lee said of her fellow Panthers who were unable to attend the event. She went on to say that Atlanta is one of the biggest places in which sex-trafficking is happening, and students in the city should know about it. Eno Umoh is a senior biology major at Georgia State, and she did not know that Atlanta was part of the sex-trafficking industry. "I always saw human trafficking as a problem from overseas, and it never occurred to me that it could be happening here," Umoh says of what she learned at "Not for Sale." "It opened my eyes to that. It's very real, and it happens in Atlanta." Passman is part of "Innocence Atlanta," and she said that students who want to be involved with this issue can join the Facebook group and begin educating those around them.

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