Day of No Freedom
For the past semester, my church has been part of the Call and Response movement. We are trying to raise awareness and action against modern day human slavery. 27 million people in the world are forced to be slave laborers, sex slaves, and child soldiers. Sex slavery happens in all 50 states of the United States of America. There are 100,000 women and children forced into sex slavery. The average age of a sex slave is 11 years old. There have even been cases of sex slavery in Detroit, Birmingham, and Dexter Michigan. This is a trailer for the documentary.
http://www.callandresponse.com/trailer.html
Today we had the Day of No Freedom. We seized all of the Diag with performances and presentations to raise awareness. We had over 500 petition signatures to send to congress. We also had the front steps of the Grad library reserved for our guest speaker from the law school, songs against slavery, and a monologue. I delivered the monologue.
I was Theresa Flores, a former sex slave from Birmingham Michigan. This is a true story. At the age of 15, she was the new girl in one of the most affluent highschools in Michigan. Her closest classmate was Daniel, a very nice boy. One day when she was hanging out with him, she was drugged, raped, and blackmailed. Daniel and his family were part of a sex ring. They threatened to kill her and her family if she didnt' do what they wanted. So they used her as a prostitute to make money. Even though she continued to go to school (with Daniel and his cousins constantly watching her) she was taken away every night, driven to random locations, and raped over and over again. Police actually found her one time, returned her home, and her parents simply said she was "having fun and whoring around". They didnt' want to believe their daughter was forced into sex slavery. After two years, Theresa's highschool friend, Janie, started dating Daniel. She quickly said she was in love, and didn't believe any of Theresa's warnings. Then the phone calls from Daniel stopped. Theresa was no longer required to sell her body. Janie took her place.
Most of these girls are tricked into this sex slavery. There was another testimony from a girl in Arizona that was actually tricked by her best friend to go into "a friend's car". With mom and dad sleeping soundly inside, she was kidnapped, and found several months later naked, bleeding, bruised, and crushed into a drawer under a bed.
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=1596778&page=1
I was glad to share Theresa's story to a Diag full of people. I didn't have that same nervousness I used to get seconds before the curtain opening. I'm glad to use the gifts, talents, and boldness that God has given me for a noble cause. =)
http://www.callandresponse.com/trailer.html
Today we had the Day of No Freedom. We seized all of the Diag with performances and presentations to raise awareness. We had over 500 petition signatures to send to congress. We also had the front steps of the Grad library reserved for our guest speaker from the law school, songs against slavery, and a monologue. I delivered the monologue.
I was Theresa Flores, a former sex slave from Birmingham Michigan. This is a true story. At the age of 15, she was the new girl in one of the most affluent highschools in Michigan. Her closest classmate was Daniel, a very nice boy. One day when she was hanging out with him, she was drugged, raped, and blackmailed. Daniel and his family were part of a sex ring. They threatened to kill her and her family if she didnt' do what they wanted. So they used her as a prostitute to make money. Even though she continued to go to school (with Daniel and his cousins constantly watching her) she was taken away every night, driven to random locations, and raped over and over again. Police actually found her one time, returned her home, and her parents simply said she was "having fun and whoring around". They didnt' want to believe their daughter was forced into sex slavery. After two years, Theresa's highschool friend, Janie, started dating Daniel. She quickly said she was in love, and didn't believe any of Theresa's warnings. Then the phone calls from Daniel stopped. Theresa was no longer required to sell her body. Janie took her place.
Most of these girls are tricked into this sex slavery. There was another testimony from a girl in Arizona that was actually tricked by her best friend to go into "a friend's car". With mom and dad sleeping soundly inside, she was kidnapped, and found several months later naked, bleeding, bruised, and crushed into a drawer under a bed.
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=1596778&page=1
I was glad to share Theresa's story to a Diag full of people. I didn't have that same nervousness I used to get seconds before the curtain opening. I'm glad to use the gifts, talents, and boldness that God has given me for a noble cause. =)