Today, all over social media, you’ll see friends, family, etc. with red “X”’s on their hands.
The first time I ever saw this was on my mom’s Instagram page in high school. She posted it while I was at school, talking about an act that was so degrading and vulgar. An act that dehumanized young adults and took away their youth. An act that took away these future scientists, actors, scholars autonomy and basic human rights.
I’m talking about sex trafficking and human slavery.
Most of us remember from middle school history that Dutch traders brought African slaves to Jamestown in 1619. Some were indentured servants, but most of the stories that stick out in our minds are the stories of slaves being beaten, whipped, and forced to have sexual relationships with their bosses.
Then in the 1860s, President Abraham Lincoln, declared all slaves to be free. Did that really happen? Obviously not. Today, an estimate of 20.9 million people are still enslaved, whether it be indentured, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, or the one this article is mainly about: sex trafficking.
Sex trafficking is when a male or female, minor or adult, is forced into sexual acts for money. This is a crime in all 50 states of America. Anyone under the age of 18 is considered a minor and automatically a victim of sex trafficking, but there are an estimate of 4.5 million victims in the world.
Recently, the Cosmopolitan articles on Snapchat have brought light to this horrible act against humans, and told some real life stories about girls going to jail just to get out of the streets.
The End It 2017 Movement is a movement of writing red “X”s on your hand to bring awareness to the crime of human slavery. Whether you knew it or not, Charlotte is the top city for sex trafficking in NC, and one of the top ten in the U.S. To me, that hits too close to home.
Wherever you stand, stand today with a red “X” on your hand, showing awareness about human salvary.
Visit the End It Movement website to learn more: https://enditmovement.com/