Written by Krista Ludwick, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

In over 50 cities around the country, community officials are launching “john school” programs, designed to prevent men who have been arrested for soliciting a prostitute from offending a second time.

The first john school was founded in San Francisco in 1995, as a collaborative effort of the city’s police department, DA’s office, and anti-exploitation organization SAGE. The success of this First Offenders Prostitution Program has inspired the opening of similar programs in many cities, including Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Nashville.

The program format varies from location to location, but is usually structured as a one- day class of sessions, or as several weeks of group or individual counseling. Attendance is often a requirement that has been coupled with a sentence and penalty, although in some cities it is used as a diversion program, providing an option for men with no previous records to avoid criminal charges and a legal process.

In whichever form, the programs are not meant to be an “easy way out” for the men. A typical curriculum includes a variety of presentations which can be emotional, disturbing and heated, as the men hear from all sides, the physical, legal, financial, and personal ramifications of soliciting sex. Law enforcement and legal workers lay out the potential jail time, steep fines, criminal charges, and legal impact of being apprehended a second time – including potential statutory rape charges for the intentional or unintentional soliciting of a minor for sex. Neighborhood activists also present on the impact that prostitution has on the quality of life in their communities. Some of the sessions include resources for addressing sexual addiction, conflict resolution, and anger management.

Perhaps the most effective and intense portions of the program are the health risk presentations and the survivor testimonies. Men learn the health risks of STDs through harsh facts and photos; for those men who are not concerned with the impact their actions have others, this health risk session can create a strong appeal to their own self interests.

Alternatively, men who do empathize with the pain of others can be deeply affected towards change during the survivor testimonies, when they hear what life as a prostitute is really like. Former prostitutes and victims of exploitation share about the sexual, emotional and physical abuse they often endured as children, which for many, lead them into a life of prostitution. They also recount the violence, rape, and drug addictions that they have endured while working the streets.

Studies report that the john school program model is self sustaining, with attendees’ mandatory tuition usually covering all the costs of classes and administration – leaving no cost to taxpayers. More importantly, the courses are proving to be overall effective, changing attitudes and significantly reducing the likelihood of second offenses among those who go through the course. 

Do they really help? I think that is for the individual to decide.

For a closer look at john schools in the U.S., visit  this page on DemandForum.net.

Written by Khristina O’Connor, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

My preface is that this article is intended for you—the volunteer, the educated, the willing to respond—the one who said, “yes, I will help.”  I am thrilled to hear that you are willing to aid in the fight against human trafficking!  But first, I want you to know—as you might have already discovered—sex slavery is a solemn issue.  So before you take your journey toward action, read this—because it might help you cope with everything you have learned, and are about to learn.

No one likes to hear bad news.  I get annoyed with television news stations that only seem to report on the things in the world that are going wrong.  But that is the unfortunate reality of the world we live in.  Bad things happen.  From stubbing your toe to getting into a car accident, the risk level increases for you to encounter misfortune from the moment you get out of bed in the morning. 

That was a very pessimistic opening—and pessimism is not really a quality I favor.  I am an optimist—the polar opposite—however, pain and grief are very difficult topics to be optimistic about.  Coming from a counselor’s perspective, one helpful suggestion to make an optimistic spin on a negative situation is to use a different perspective.  In order to get that perspective, we will consider Hansen’s disease, or as it is more commonly referred to, leprosy. 

Caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae, leprosy has two common forms—tuberculoid (a form that is really bad) and lepromatous (the form that is significantly worse).  Both forms cause skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that progress over time if the disease goes untreated.  Skin lesions are the first sign of leprosy, and each skin lesion makes the affected area numb to the touch.  Leprosy attacks and kills the nervous system; therefore people who have leprosy become numb to any sensation, including pain.  Oftentimes, patients with leprosy will literally lose limbs because they do not realize they are cutting, scraping, or scouring them off.  Pain sensors protect us from damaging our limbs and other body parts.  People who have leprosy cannot feel pain, so they do not notice when they are damaging their bodies.  This is the distinguishing side effect of leprosy.

The purpose of pain is to protect our bodies.  Pain sensors, when activated, send signals to the brain to stop the action we are carrying out in order to prevent serious damage.  Physical pain is easy to understand.  If you walk into the wall and hit your nose, it will hurt; so logically, you stop walking into the wall.  Emotional pain is more difficult to understand.  Our brain has emotional pain sensors that are more intricate.  We have the small voice inside of us—our conscience—that tells us when we are in a bad situation.  And we have negative emotional responses to events and circumstances that are bad for our safety and mental health.  Because other internal emotions or external environmental factors may cause numbness to both our conscience and negative emotional responses, we find ourselves making mistakes, misjudgments of character, and in situations which cause us pain.  Sometimes a negative emotional response, such as grief, anger, or shock will not surface until the action that caused it has been processed.  It is like walking into the emotional wall over, and over, and over again, until you realize, “Oh; that hurt.  Maybe I should stop.”  Sometimes we cannot calculate when to stop exposing ourselves to something that causes emotional pain because we stay in denial or metaphorically sweep our emotions under the rug.

Let us also address that we are sometimes not responsible for the pain we have.  Sometimes pain is caused by other people—both physical and emotional.  Victims of severe emotional trauma, such as victims of sex trafficking, have emotional numbness that is like the numbing side effect of leprosy.  When you suffer from depression, grief or shock, you retreat into an emotionless state of mind in order to protect yourself from feeling pain.  Jerry Sittser, Author of A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss, writes about this phenomena in his own life: “There was a radical split between the self that did my work and the self that watched me from the shadows” (44).

In Ancient Rome, when leprosy spread rampantly through physical contact and other close exposure, people who had leprosy (also called lepers) were exiled to leper colonies.  Even now, we mimic this behavior because we tend to isolate those going through “emotional leprosy” or emotional numbness.  We create our own “leper colonies” by avoiding the issue, or not really knowing how to be compassionate toward victims of severe trauma.  Sittser writes about creating a community of support for people who are emotionally numb: “Some kinds of losses, like sexual abuse […] are usually private.  Most people never hear about them, or, if they do, hear only enough to respond ineptly to the peculiar signs of behavior that may surface.  Instead of becoming a community of support for these wounded people, they may actually prolong and aggravate the suffering because of their ignorance or insensitivity, which may be due to no fault of their own” (174).

Of course, the other side of this spectrum is to become too empathetic—so much that you take on the trauma empathetically.  This is called Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  This is not a mental disorder recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); however it has very real symptoms that are similar to PTSD.  Symptoms include: irritability, excessive blaming, difficulty sleeping, chronic fatigue, isolation, feelings of resentment, compulsive behaviors, poor self care, sadness, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, mental fatigue, etc.  If you experience these symptoms from your involvement with Second Life Chattanooga, or in your education of sex slavery, take a break, and make sure you talk to someone about it.  

Similar to Secondary PTSD, another way you can become burned out on helping a cause with desperate need is Compassion Fatigue.  Compassion Fatigue is characterized by symptoms of a “burnout” or reaching an emotional breaking point.  Symptoms are similar to those of chronic stress (withdrawal from friends and family, changes in appetite, loss of motivation, changes in weight, changes in sleep patterns, hair loss, upset stomach, anxiety, intense mood swings, feelings of hopelessness, hypertension and fatigue).  Again, if you experience any of these symptoms, take a break, contact a health care professional, and practice healthy coping strategies. A few healthy coping strategies are: adopt a healthy diet, engage in regular exercise, use social support or meaning-focused coping, practice proactive coping (preparing for projected stress in the future) by setting boundaries, keep a journal, and/or discover your creative side with a hobby, or project.

We have discussed a lot of information, so here is what you should take away from this article:

1.       Maybe after the new perspective, we can become optimistic about pain.  Do not mistake me.  I do not at all suggest that we should become masochists.  I merely suggest a coping strategy for grief or pain—to be thankful for feeling physical pain, because it is protecting you from further harming yourself.  Sittser writes, “If we face loss squarely and respond to it wisely, we will actually become healthier people, even as we draw closer to physical death” (A Grace Disguised, 18).

2.       If, when reading about sex trafficking, you find yourself closing yourself off to it, or not wanting to think about it, don’t feel bad.  It is a normal emotional response to “bad news.”  We can become victims of trauma even vicariously through Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Compassion Fatigue.  If you feel like you are overwhelmed with empathy for those you are helping.  Take a break and practice a few healthy coping strategies such as those listed above.

3.       Try to maintain a balance between exiling those who have experienced trauma, grief, or pain, and taking on the stress of those who have experienced trauma, grief, or pain as your own emotional shock or distress.

Further reading on stress management can be found at: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm

Written by Chelsea Moser, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

As we think through how we can not only confront, but also prevent trafficking in our communities, one thing most of us understand to be important is “awareness”. We brainstorm “awareness” projects, launch “awareness” campaigns, achieve funding and support for events which we unabashedly claim are only for the purpose of “awareness”. We understand that this piece of activism is vital if any community is going to make a concerted effort to eradicate a crime that lives off insidious interweaving within various structures that already exist in that community. One way some communities have attempted to stem this crime’s flourishing is by going to the source of demand and attempting to open some eyes. This attempt, known in most places as “johns’ school” typically does not prevent consumers in the slavery economy from their first time committing the crime, but exists to prevent future indiscretions.

San Francisco opened one of the first johns’ schools, and more than 5,700 men have gone through the program since its inception in 1995. This particular program is known as “FOPP”, First Offender Prostitution Program, and is for men who have just received their first arrest for soliciting prostitutes. As an alternative to prosecution and the possibility of time in jail, these men can pay a $1,000 fee and attend an 8-hour session designed to educate them about the dangers of prostitution for both solicitors and prostitutes, as well as the truth about the real origins of many of the women who might be solicited and the reality of their forced servitude. The intention of the training, however, is not only to promote awareness of human trafficking and slavery, but also to encourage the “johns” to consider the reasons the rest of prostitution’s victims may have chosen that industry and the unanticipated abuse they may now find themselves trapped in as a result of that choice. Men are confronted by both survivors who tell tales of kidnapping and slavery, and survivors who tell tales of how their own brokenness and subsequent poor decisions were mercilessly exploited by the men who never stopped to think about the person on the other end of the business exchange that provided them with sex.

As former prostitutes share their stories and medical and law enforcement professionals share facts, attendees are forced to deal with the horror of the world of prostitution, and the role they play in perpetuating it. Johns’ school forces attendees to deal with the reality of what’s happening, instead of their fantasies of what’s happening. They are made to confront the truth that soliciting sex is not a victimless crime. By the end of the day, most men display strong emotional reactions of sadness and disbelief. This empathy is the central intention of johns school, and the theory on which this particular preventative measure entirely rests.

Happily, there is some evidence that this approach has real effects. A study in San Francisco found that those who completed johns’ school were 30 percent less likely to be rearrested for soliciting than men who opted out of the program. A study of a johns’ school in Buffalo, NY found that the education resulted in an 87.5 percent drop in the recidivism rate for attendees. These kinds of programs have now been established in more than 40 other communities throughout the US, including Washington, West Palm Beach, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Nashville.

There are those, however, who feel that johns’ school is, at best, useless, and, at worst, perpetuating a misguided approach to the problem. Many believe that attendees who got caught soliciting prostitutes in full view, will, after having to go through johns’ school, simply turn to escort services or internet hookups- that the demand side of the industry cannot be dismantled so easily. As most johns’ schools, however, are entirely paid for by the fees levied on attendees, proponents may certainly be justified in feeling this free program is worth a shot.

There are others, however, who feel the problems associated with the prostitution industry cannot be solved as long as any law-enforcement procedures are involved- that prostitution should be decriminalized. These advocates feel that the only people allowed to get away with prostitution are the middlemen- not only pimps and traffickers, but operators of massage parlors, escort services, and topless bars. Traffickers are hard to catch and these business owners are given free range of cities, but, if a prostitute tries to reach out to law enforcement for help, she can be arrested.

In light of these issues, many have argued that the way to assist those who have been trapped by this crime is to repeal the laws that make the victims themselves criminals, thereby allowing those victims freedom to come forward, and bringing the entire industry into the light of day. Proponents of this move argue that if prostitution were legal, perhaps this would allow regulation and oversight of brothels, which could hold their owners accountable for the treatment of their workers. This would make it easier to discover victims of trafficking, and, above all, provide a much needed recourse for those who wish to walk away from the job.

In the end, it is up to us a community of individuals to protect the weak and the broken from exploitation and harm. One recourse of action that we know does not produce a good outcome is turning a blind eye. If you are interested in becoming involved with Second Life of Chattanooga and learning more about what you can do to end human slavery, please feel free to get in touch with us about volunteering.

Written by Krista Ludwick, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

Sexual exploitation of others for money is, at a base level, about supply and demand. If there were no demand, then trafficking would not be so lucrative and rampant.

In 1999, Sweden took a radical approach to addressing this problem by passing The Prohibition of Purchase of Sexual Services Act – which makes it legal to sell sex, but illegal to pay for sex. Sex purchasing-related crimes are punishable by fines, public shaming, and prison sentences.

The Swedish law runs counter to the typical legislation approach, which usually brings criminal charges against those who sell, as well as those who pay for, sex. In taking this different approach, the Swedish government implies (and overtly states) that every sex worker is actually a victim in need of protection from those who would buy sex from them. Prostitution is considered a deep societal problem, particularly rooted in the historical subordination of women to men.

Thirteen years after its passage, Swedish officials say that the law has drastically reduced violence against women and prostitution. However, it has many critics in Sweden and throughout Europe. Opponents claim that the law has forced prostitution to go underground and online instead of being out in the open on the streets, ultimately creating a more dangerous situation. Some claim that the government’s reported numbers of reduced prostitution and violence are inaccurate, because they were not obtained through reliable sources and channels. Others reject the idea that all sex workers are victims of a patriarchal society, stating that prostitution can be a legitimate work of choice.

While this is clearly a complex issue, there are elements of The Prohibition of Purchase of Sexual Services Act that should be fundamental for lawmaking in the United States. In our war on sexual exploitation, it is important to criminalize the correct people in sex industry transactions – whether street, underground or online. New York, Illinois, Tennessee and other states have passed laws decriminalizing juvenile prostitutes, on the grounds that they are typically victims rather than perpetrators. This is a good start, reflecting a shifting perception of sex trade workers that could, over time, lead to the decriminalization of those who are adult victims of exploitation as well. 

Swedish law is also a good model in aggressively going after the demand (the johns) with clear consequences as powerful deterrents.  Americans who choose to purchase sex should do so with the fear of very serious, and very public, reprisal.

Ultimately, in an environment where johns are afraid to buy sex, it is more difficult for sex trafficking crime rings to be established– bringing us one step closer to the eradication of the industry.

Written by Chelsea Moser, Volunteer, Second Life of Chattanooga

In 2011, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released a study that was meant to quantify the existence of human trafficking in Tennessee.  The study reported at least 100 cases in Hamilton County.  However, none of those cases had been reported to local authorities as “human sex-trafficking” cases. 

Why the gap?

Human trafficking is a complex crime.  It operates in many different ways, hidden in broad daylight in so many American cities.  Identifying clients as victims of trafficking is incredibly difficult. Creating a safe enough environment for victims to be willing to identify themselves to others as victims of trafficking can be extremely painstaking, sticky work.  If this issue, however, is going to be addressed and prevented in our city, we must all find the vocabulary and awareness to work together.  It takes great collaboration to identify and serve victims, as well as to work against and prevent the efforts of perpetrators. 

Over the past few years, Second Life and the Greater Chattanooga Coalition Against Human Trafficking have sought to increase coordination between local social service agencies, who actually encounter the crime’s victims, and law enforcement/law making entities, who can do something about preventing and punishing the crime.  As Assistant Special Agent in Charge Margie Quin from TBI said in a town hall meeting on January 25^th, no matter how many services we can offer to victims, if we can’t do something about perpetrators, “we’ll just be chasing our tails”.  A straightforward conversation between all of the different community entities is needed to effectively confront this problem. 

As a result of TBI’s study, a training course has been created. The course is being implemented in several counties around our state (it came to Chattanooga in 2011)  and is designed to have social service and law enforcement professionals sit down together and receive education on how to identify and respond to cases of human trafficking.  More of this training is needed.  How can we get teachers on the lookout for tell-tale signs of victimization in their students?  How can we get students of all ages to lookout for each other?  How can we get religious organizations focused on serving this particular group of needy individuals in our town as they carry out their various community programs?  How can we further engage judges in law making and enforcement processes around this problem?  How can we help the Women’s Fund of Chattanooga spread the word about the 24/7 human trafficking hotline, until everyone in our region knows to immediately make the right phone call if they are victimized or witness something suspicious?  How can we turn the attention of our state legislature and even of our representation in Congress to this need as they make the laws that create the necessary structure for prevention and justice? 

If we are going to put our finger on this obscure crime, if we are going to bring it into the light of day and recognize the scared people being victimized around us, if we are going to have the necessary collaboration to create the net needed to deal with this, it’s going to take all the citizens of Chattanooga being aware, looking out and caring, talking about it, and advocating for action whenever they have the chance.  We need to facilitate this conversation in our community, with all its members.  If you get a chance to support new legislation, post flyers advertizing the hotline, or even just tell a friend what you know about human trafficking as a problem in our own neighborhoods, take it. 

Prevention starts with caring citizens seeing a need.  We need to spread the word, all over Chattanooga, that this is our problem, darkening our city, enslaving our fellow Chattanoogans.  We need to take action in so many different ways on so many different fronts- lets start by making sure everyone’s paying attention.  This is something every one of us can do. 

Written by Khristina O’Connor, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

We all have ambitions and dreams of who we will become someday and what we aspire to accomplish.  Remember when you were a kid, and you had all these dreams of what the future would hold?  Life was so pure.  Passion for existence showed up with so much conviction and zeal for even the little things—like seeing a rainbow for the very first time, watching the transformation of a tadpole into a frog, or having G.I. Joe set the princess captives free.  Now that we are all grown up, we have settled into the reality of paying bills, and setting the alarm clock for the nine-to-five the next day.  As life happened, plans changed, and life moved in the direction survival took you.  Distant dreams of the past are in an attic somewhere, in a box, collecting dust. As an adult, maybe we have a five-year plan.  Maybe we live each day to its fullest potential.  Maybe we are just trying to survive.  Wherever adult life take us, deep down we all want to revisit that pure, unadulterated passion of a child dreaming he or she will be strong enough to save the world like Superman or Mulan.   Inside our hearts, we will find a desire to make our own lives better, and contribute to the lives of our family members, friends and neighbors.  We want to be agents for change. 

A famous dreamer’s life is celebrated and honored this week.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.  He is best known for his nonviolent civil disobedience.  On October 14, 1964, Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting racial inequality with nonviolence at the age of thirty-five.  In 1986, Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of his birthday, which was January 15^th.

The King Centeris a web site dedicated to the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr.  They have a page dedicated to posting the many dreams of Americans across the country commemorating Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C in 1963.  As I was browsing through the “dreams” page, I came across this one*:

“To put an end to human trafficking and modern day child exploitation within Atlanta, the United States, and all over the world. There are currently 27 million slaves living all over the world today.”

At Second Life Chattanooga, we share this same dream.  Our values of human dignity, integrity, partnerships, excellence, and innovation guide us each day, ensuring that we continue to remain focused on our ultimate goal of seeing sex trafficking and exploitation eradicated in our region.  Our Mission is to create awareness that drives action through collaborative relationships with like-minded organizations and individuals in order to end human sex trafficking in Greater Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee.

I have this dream too.  Martin Luther King Jr. is an inspiration to us all, and an icon in American history.  I would love to be a part of the spark of a greater cause, and the start of a movement for change.  I want to see a time when slavery does not plague this country.  The number thirteen has come to be known as a symbol of rebellion.  Let us put this in a positive light and mark the year 2013 as the year for rebellion against injustice in America.  Let the inspiration of Martin Luther King fuel your rebellion against sex trafficking in America with nonviolence.   In the words of Dr. King, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”  We have to first fight for the oppressed to have a voice when they do not have a voice of their own.  Perhaps the greatest advice from Dr. King to all following time periods is this: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

You can recapture the dreams you had as a child.  In America, we have progressed very far in the combat against racial inequality.  We are still fighting the battle.  As we remember civil rights that transcend race, let us also remember civil rights for those who are bullied, captured, and sold in the modern-day American slavery that exists in human sex trafficking.

*You can view this dream and more at http://www.thekingcenter.org

Written by Patricia Martin, Second Life of Chattanooga

I had the great privilege of spending two days with Theresa Flores, Abolitionist, as she spoke in Chattanooga last week in honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. It was truly a privilege. Theresa is a remarkable person – she is a person to be remarked upon. While telling her story, Theresa tells of having gone through the most horrendous things I can think of and when it was over, having to get herself up and rescue herself. She speaks of not knowing where that strength came from, but I think I know. It is the same inner strength that puts her on stages and platforms across the country every day. It is the same strength that led her to write The Slave Across the Street. It is the same strength that stands up and tells the story over and over again – not because Theresa enjoys reliving ritualistic rape and abuse, but because she knows if she doesn’t stand up there is a good chance no one else will. Jerry Redman described Theresa as a hero at the Second Annual “Unite. Wear White. “  event on Friday. And Jerry was right. Theresa is a hero. And I was able to spend time with her.

The most striking part of my time with Theresa wasn’t listening to her speak, though. I think the time that I spent with her that will stay in my mind long after Friday will be all of the girls and women, and even young men who walked up to Theresa after she spoke to share their own experiences. Theresa – in the midst of all of the chaos of reporters and people wanting to buy her book – took each of these teary-eyed individuals off to the side and spoke with each of them out of ear shot. I watched as she listened intently to each of their stories, no longer concerned with publicity or book sales. I looked on as she held their hands, as she cried with some of them, and as she encouraged them to be strong. I stood in awe as she took the burden of each of their stories on her shoulders and I watched those stories strengthen and embolden her all the more.

You see, when you are a Freedom Fighter, when you make your life’s work freeing slaves and setting captives free, the stories, appalling as they are, don’t drag you down. The lives of the people you encounter who are slaves or who have been slaves don’t discourage you or make you think the problem is too big for you to make an impact. These stories – these lives – they are the gasoline on the fire that drives you. These lives are the fuel that it takes to keep you going.  These testimonies will keep Theresa fueled to the next city, and the next and the next. She will carry each person with her to the next Senate hearing where she speaks to urge lawmakers to pass laws that protect victims. And she won’t stop until every slave is freed, until every captive is released, until every girl, boy, woman and man are home with their families where they belong. I was able to visibly see, I was able to watch as Theresa listened, I watched these stories add to the strength that willed Theresa to save herself. And I was inspired.

I was not only impacted by Theresa’s actions when it came to each victim that wanted to speak with her. I was also impacted by the sheer number of victims that were present that day. It is time for us to take Theresa’s lead and let their presence and their stories inspire us, as well. We have to look at the victims – really look at them – and let our knowledge of their existence propel us forward. I hope that I can take what I have experienced and not let it drag me down, but let it fuel the fire in me that will drive me to action.

Because hearing and doing nothing isn’t enough. Once you know the fight exists you have to choose a side. And if you choose to do nothing, you have chosen the side of the abuser. If you choose to do nothing about human sex trafficking happening in our area, you are choosing to let it continue. So, that only leaves one question: Which side are you on?

December brings its own special busyness and excitement. Among the many opportunities this month affords us, two of them are to take a look back at the year we are completing, along with looking ahead to the new year we are about to begin.

Second Life of Chattanooga has had quite a 2012 and there are multiple things on which we can reflect that point to our progress as an organization. In addition, as we look forward to 2013, several opportunities are presenting themselves, each of which we believe will help us in our work to eradicate sex trafficking in Southeast Tennessee.

For purposes of looking back and looking ahead, we have chosen two things that we would like to highlight and that we believe are important pieces of the on-going Second Life story. First, looking back…

This fall we held our very first Speakers Bureau training event. Our Speakers Bureau is a group of vetted Second Life volunteers who have under-gone additional training so that they can conduct awareness seminars on Second Life’s behalf. In addition to receiving training on the basic Second Life awareness presentation, the Bureau members were given flash drives of our awareness power point and a kit of visual aids and other materials for their audiences. This initial Speakers Bureau class has been making the most of their training, as they have already scheduled several awareness events for late 2012/early 2013. We are very appreciative of their commitment to the mission and vision of Second Life.

2013 will bring many new opportunities for us to raise awareness in the Southeast Tennessee region about the issue of trafficking and how we can fight it. One of those first opportunities we will have to do this is Friday, January 11, which is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. As a member of the Greater Chattanooga Coalition Against Human Trafficking (GCCAHT), Second Life will be participating in the second annual “Unite. Wear White” event, which is GCCAHT’s local expression of the National Awareness Day. The “Wear White” portion of our event’s title is because we wear white on that day as a sign of support and hope for the victims of trafficking.

 We are very excited to bring Theresa Flores to Chattanooga as our keynote speaker for the day. Theresa is a trafficking survivor, as well as a nationally-known advocate for those who have been victimized by this crime. Her book, The Slave Across The Street, tells her own story of how she survived and is a call to action for every person who desires to see trafficking eradicated.

The event will be held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Imperial Ballroom (1400 Market St, Chattanooga, TN 37402), with exhibits opening at 9am and Theresa Flores speaking at 10am. The event is free and open to the public, so we hope you will join us on January 11^th, as well as bring some friends with you. And remember to wear white!  

Written by Chelsea Moser, Second Life of Chattanooga Volunteer

Though International Justice Mission (IJM) primarily focuses on combatting human trafficking abroad, the attention founder Gary Haugen has received in Washington for his hard work and breathtaking achievement has, no doubt, fueled the conversation about how to face this challenge in our own country. On the day this past June that Haugen was named a “Trafficking in Persons Report Hero”, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also unveiled the 2012 annual Trafficking in Persons Report. The report ranks 184 countries (including the United States) by a three-tier system, based on the extent of the problem of slavery in that country and progress toward combating it. The report provides important leverage in motivating countries to increase anti-slavery efforts, because a country’s rank has real effects in the form of U.S. government sanctions. One of IJM’s major methods of combating slavery around the world has been to influence US Governmental policy in this way. This emphasis on reducing slavery through foreign relations is an encouraging example of the impact citizens can have on human trafficking, not only in their own communities but around the world. In similar fashion to IJM and its supporters, residents can seek to battle trafficking in the Greater Chattanooga area and beyond by advocating at local and state levels of government. Laws that deal with the issues surrounding human trafficking, care for victims, and consequences for perpetrators can be powerful tools for prevention.

The Polaris Project is an advocacy group in Washington DC committed to researching and working against the problem of slavery in the US, and, as they grow, around the world. The Polaris Project publishes an annual report on states’ progress towards developing legislation to prevent slavery and care for its victims. According to their report, in 2004, only 4 states had human trafficking laws. In 2012, the Polaris Project found that 49 states had established some kind of relevant laws. In only the past year, 28 states have passed new human trafficking laws. This report also uses a tiered rating system for each state. In 2012, Tennessee was one of 21 states that achieved a Tier 1 rating, which is available to any state the organization feels “has passed significant laws to combat human trafficking and should continue to take steps to improve and implement its laws”.

For Tennessee’s individual state report, follow this link: https://na4.salesforce.com/sfc/p/300000006E4SasMNeV9CenjeGSMx2doqC4tbgnE

We should be encouraged by this evidence of openness to dealing with this issue in our state and ever more determined to make the most of that openness in ways that will eradicate and prevent this horror from our communities. Each of us can continually take advantage of opportunities to maximize awareness of this issue at state and local levels of government. One way of doing this is to keep an eye out for news stories highlighting the issue of human trafficking around the country and immediately respond with a letter to the editor. This can have an impact on the thinking of fellow community members, but policy makers also pay attention to this section of the paper, making such letters an important advocacy tool. IJM’s website provides the following instructions for submitting a letter:

1. Look up your local newspaper’s website or call to find the email address for submitting Letters to the Editor.
2. If your paper has covered the TIP Report release or a related topic, start your letter with the following format: “Your article, ‘TITLE, by AUTHOR, on DATE…”
3. Keep the overall length to 150-200 words.
4. Include your name, title/affiliation (if relevant), and contact information.
5. TIP: Speed is (almost everything)! Editors receive hundreds of letters every day. Often deciding which ones to print boils down to timing. Responding to a news story the same day it was printed will greatly increase your chance of getting published.

It is also extremely important to pay attention to pending bills in our state or federal congress and reach out to your representatives to encourage them to support developing anti-slavery efforts through legislation. These kinds of efforts simply require keeping your eyes and ears open and then putting forth minutes to make a phone call or send an email, but they have the potential to affect great change.

For information about pending legislation, go to www.polarisproject.org/take-action/advocate

Written by Jerry Redman, Managing Senior Partner, Second Life of Chattanooga

In the almost 6 years that I have been part of the anti-sex trafficking organization, Second Life of Chattanooga, I have found myself in a variety of settings/meetings/events, all of which were hopefully designed to help our cause of bringing an end to the terror of human sex trafficking in Greater Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee. Many of these gatherings have been encouraging, inspiring and transformational. Others, not so much. But of all the events I have attended during this time, the one I was part of last night was definitely one of the most personally impactful.

Every Fall, Lee University in Cleveland, TN has a competition between their residence halls called “Dorm Wars.” Dorm Wars is now a 20-year long tradition at Lee and consists of a night of some of the craziest, loudest, most intense competition you have ever seen. The winning dorms (1 men’s residence hall winner, 1 women’s residence hall winner) get trophies, medals, serious bragging rights, as well as prize money that they donate to the local service organization they have decided to sponsor for that year’s Dorm Wars. This year the women of Simmons/Nora Chambers contacted us and asked us if we would be interested in being their service organization. Even though I did my undergrad work at Lee, given the fact that I went to school there 100 years ago, Dorm Wars was something new to me, but hey, any opportunity to further our cause is something we say “yes” to.

A few weeks before the competition my Second Life partner, Terri Self, and I met with the resident director of Simmons/Nora Chambers and several of the residents so that they could get to know more about us and us them. It was a fun, engaging time and they told us they would love to have us come to the competition, which we of course said that we would. So, last night we show up at Walker Arena and they’re waiting in the lobby for us with our own “SNORA” t-shirts and direct us to their section in the arena.

I swear I’ve been to quieter rock shows. The place was packed, each of the dorms had their own specific uniforms, performed an opening routine when they were introduced and never sat down or stopped screaming during the entire 2 hour event. The music never stopped and was everything from hip-hop to pop to 80’s rock to Bieber (which we all know is a genre unto itself).

Dorm Wars’s competition involves things like 3-legged races, sack races and an obstacle course. But it was during the shopping cart relay (complete with crash helmets and students throwing themselves out of the cart so their next teammate could jump in) that what was really going on began to hit me. The various service organizations for which each of the dorms were competing are all fine organizations and do great work. But as I watched our SNORA girls go all-out on behalf of Second Life during the shopping cart relay I was struck by the thought that in the middle of the screaming, music and mayhem as the carts sped through the course something else was speaking even louder: the power of human joy. I witnessed, was surrounded by and participated in the joy of being alive, of knowing that in spite of how hard and at times dark life can be, sometimes a shopping cart relay is exactly what you need to remind you that life is precious, laughter and music are gifts from above, and everybody deserves them.

Terri and I, along with the scores of others who make up our organization, fight trafficking every day with awareness that creates collaborative action. We sit in meetings, we leverage relationships, we utilize media, we advocate, we use every tool at our disposal to see the captives set free and the traffickers shut down. Last night the women of SNORA used a shopping cart against the backdrop of un-contained human joy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more powerful weapon.

My ears rang most of today from how loud it was in that arena last night. It is my hope that the echo of last night will somehow reach the ears of those who are waiting on all of us who fight on their behalf, that they will hold on because we are doing our best to get to them, to get them free, to get them home. In this fight we use weapons like passion, belief, un-ending faith, hope. And joy. And shopping carts.