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What can Jeff Goldblum & Dinosaurs teach us about ending human trafficking?

By on May 18, 2013 in Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Research
What Can Jeff Goldblum & Dinosaurs teach us about ending Human Trafficking

What Can Jeff Goldblum & Dinosaurs teach us about ending Human Trafficking

Everyone remembers that scene from Jurassic Park where the scientist played by Jeff Goldblum explains how chaos theory is partly responsible for dinosaurs eating lawyers…

As a researcher I prescribe to Chaos theory and it will be fundamental in our work to explain how human rights violations (and human trafficking occurs) but more importantly, how to end them.

Lets try this Chaos theory on for size here: (its a work in progress so please forgive if its really not a great explanation yet)

Fundamentally Chaos says that in a large system (i.e. human trafficking) which appears to be disorganized & chaotic; there are actually predictable and contributing factors that have been assembled in a particular way to meet an particular (and semi-predictable) outcome. If any of these factors are changed, reorganized or removed, the outcome will rapidly become drastically different.

So lets look at our system of human trafficking. We have a large-scale global system involving people being exploited (sex & labor) for profit. There are contributing factors and semi-predictable outcomes.

Our contributing factors for the victim/survivor are: poverty, lack of education, inability to find meaningful employment, lack of meaningful support structure, etc…

Our contributing factors for the trafickers are: poverty, lack of education, inability to find meaningful employment, lack of meaningful support structure, etc…

(see a commonality?)

Sometimes, when these factors combine the outcome is oppression and exploitation for profit. Other times when these factors combine, nothing happens. That is Chaos theory in action.

One of the beautiful things about chaotic systems however is that they are not stable in the least which means they can be changed, modified or even ended.

A law of chaos says that in a large chaotic system, small disturbances grow exponentially fast. This is meaningful because it means if there is a disturbance in any or all of the contributing factors of human trafficking that the system can not sustain itself and will modify or fail.

Soo… what does all of this mean?

Well for right now it means that there is actually a solution to end human trafficking but it is long-term, boring, and a significant investment in living ethically and getting others to do the same. I know that many people want ht over today; that’s not going to happen. But right now if the global community changes one or more of the contributing factors, the chaotic system will fold.

So right now, I’ll continue working on this. Like I said, its far from done yet. I’m working on a project called “The general systems theory of human rights violations”. I’ll be done with it sometime this lifetime (or I’ll die trying… its a joke, get it?)

So what are your thoughts? Can Chaos help us make the world a better place?

- JB

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10-things to protect your kid

By on April 20, 2013 in Missing Kids, Solutions, What you can do

I was on the phone for an hour and a half with a freaked out mom, she heard one of my presentations and lived in one of the areas listed on The Cleveland Backpage report. She has two teenage daughters and doesn’t know what to do to protect them. Here is a list of items you may want to consider to make your individual child safe:

1. Download a “track your kid” app from one of the many sources and install on their phones

2. Purchase a GPS Tracker with safety button for you kid to have.

3. Have a list of every form of social media your kid is on. Record their username & password & check their account every now & again (invasive but I don’t want to have to track your kid online someday)

4. Give your kid permission to & teach your kid to kick, scream, fight back and fall to the ground limp & motionless if needed.

5. Talk to your kid about the realities of human trafficking and how 100,000-300,000 American kids are at-risk.

6. Teach your kid an obscure “danger-word” One that your child could say in a conversation that may be monitored to let you know that they are in trouble/being monitored/need help

7. Teach your kid to be aware of the “creepy guy in the van” but also the friendly person (guy or girl) online.

8. Work with your kid to manage their web-presence (all postings private, obscure handles, don’t check in places, don’t tag others in photos)

9.  Regularly speak with your kids friends both in-person & online (and be friends/follow them all on social media)

10. Tell your kid that if they are in trouble/need you/need to talk that you will always be there without judgement or yelling at any hour of any day without question & follow through with that! DO NOT assume that your kid knows that already, tell them!

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Actions vs intentions

By on April 13, 2013 in Domestic Trafficking, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions

This is a little bit of a cynical post but it will make some very good points.

Why do you care about human rights &/0r ending human trafficking?

In the many years I’ve been working in the human rights field I’ve seen people chain themselves, paint themselves, scream at others, starve themselves, repost, retweet, advocate, petition, braid, etc… I’ve seen churches host prayer-ins, school children save pennies, rockers host concerts, teachers lecture, marches, 5-k’s, films, PSA’s, etc…

All of these actions, what are they for? Are they for spreading human rights and ending human trafficking so that the at-risk &/or victim/survivor gets to live a rich full life? Or are these actions mean to raise awareness for the advocate to show others how caring and socially responsibly he or she is?

All of the ballyhoo (I’ve been waiting to use that word for so long) is amazing at generating a conversation, but that is all it is- a conversation. After all of the “look at me, look at me”-ing there is left one cold hard fact. It takes hard, dedicated lifestyle changes to even make a dent in ending human trafficking. No amount of ballyhooing will change anything, it takes action.

There is only one thing that will ever end human trafficking, removing the financial incentive to exploit others. That’s it, making it no longer profitable to sell and systematically abuse others. While we think with emotions, and have a great time showing others how caring we are, if the advocate is truly responsible he or she will advocate with their pocketbook and encourage others to do the same.

Human trafficking is a form of exploitative economy which removes and abuses human rights. Once the advocacy world realizes that it involves money, the quicker that form of economy will change.

I once had a very good friend that I attended a peace conference with. She was extremely excited to go and even dressed the part with beads and bracelets and a sweatshirt with a huge peace symbol on it. As we stood in line, (and me knowing this friend well) we struck up a conversation regarding intentions and actions and I, knowing this individuals purchase history called her out that she really didn’t believe in peace. I went on to cite how her purchases support atrocities around the world and that her dollar is distributed into exploitative economies. She looked at me absently and stated “I do believe in peace, it says it right here on my shirt”.

The cynicism in this post comes from the fact that I as an advocate see too much talk and not enough action. We can’t advocate against sex trafficking while wearing clothes made from forced labor. We can’t discuss human rights while eating foods harvested by force. We can’t equip survivors of human trafficking with items made by force from their brethren still in bondage.

If you truly want to end human trafficking and promote human rights, do it. Don’t talk about it. Do it and have your actions reflect your intentions!

The French Philsopher Albert Camus said “the only way to deal with an unfree world is to live so completely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion”.

Live free so that others can do the same.

- JB

 

 

 

 

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Are you living to end human trafficking?

By on April 6, 2013 in Prevention, Research, Solutions, What you can do

We spent the week in Dubuque, Iowa at The University of Dubuque and it was one of the most amazing experiences in my human rights advocacy life. Our volunteer coordinator and I worked to train around 50 law enforcement officers, worked with a human trafficking class and had the opportunity to call in a case to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, spoke to 150 students and handed out around 1500 anti-human trafficking drop cards. So in a word: it was success.

Part of our campus wide presentation had to do with a quote: “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”- Albert Camus

So here’s the question, does the way you live influence human trafficking? Do you live free & rebellious or do you follow the status quo?

There is a distinctive a difference between talking about human rights and living in a way that causes & promotes human rights.
In research, I’m a general systems theorist. Most likely you know it as the butterfly effect. A butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and it causes a hurricane in Louisiana. Believe it or not, human trafficking is completely contingent on general systems theory and you are the butterfly.
Lets give you an example. You buy a candy bar; a simple innocuous candy bar. You walk to the counter, pick up the candy and hand over a dollar (or whatever it costs). For most parties involved we believe that this involves four pieces: You, your dollar, the candy bar and the retailer. In actuality this simple transaction involves hundreds of thousands of distinct and individual variables all dependent on your dollar. There are manufacturers, wholesalers, miners, growers, pickers, paper producers etc. who are completely dependent on your dollar and in turn you are dependent on them. Its a crazy concept but everything is tied together in a complete system involving every person on the planet. I’m still working on an effective way to display and present the information a little more user friendly.
There are assumptions within general systems theory of human trafficking.
Let’s give them a try here:
All businesses want to economically succeed
All businesses are contingent on consumer purchases
All businesses will follow consumers needs/wants or they will economically fail
Which means:
If consumers change their purchasing patterns, the system of oppression will change.
If consumers demand ethical products businesses will answer or they will economically fail.
Now somebody reading this will say that this work doesn’t with sex trafficking and I have to call bull on that. The dollars that we spend validate the sexualization of children through the advertisements of products we buy, the hotels/motels that sex trafficking take place in, and the money that johns have to spend with sleeping with people. Our dollars via general systems theory are intertwined within the greater system.
So here’s the question, how are you living?
Do you buy fair trade products whenever possible?
Do you buy recycled/reconditioned electronics?
Do you buy locally grown food?
Do you purchase products advertising sexualized children
Are you buying products from companies that have signed the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act?
Do you buy porn?
Every dollar you spend supports a system, and that system can promote human rights or degrade them. The choice is up to you and your purchases. For the time being I’m going to be working on polishing the general systems theory of human trafficking. Please feel free to check this site for updates often. It’s not good enough to talk about human trafficking, every lame celebrity endorsement and tear jerking PSA does that. We should not be satisfied with anything less than the complete elimination of oppressive practices, human rights violations and human trafficking.
That is what living free is all about isn’t it?
- JB
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Survivor Bags

By on April 1, 2013 in Domestic Trafficking, What you can do

We’ve officially delivered two survivors bags to the Cleveland FBI and have in our 2013 schedule 8 more. We need your help, here’s the skinny:

When human trafficking survivors are rescued they may only have the clothes on their back. A survivors bag is a new start in a self-contained backpack to help them on their road to recovery. Inside the bag is/are the following: clothes, toiletries, gift cards to grocery/stores, bus-passes, food, water-bottle as well as several other items.The FBI has specifically asked us to include cell-phones and calling cards in our next batch as they often have to confiscate trafficked survivors cell-phones as evidence in the case against their trafficker.

All items contained within Survivors Bags have to pass our strict ethical requirements which include: no forced or child labor, eco-friendly and no animal testing. The companies that we use have signed on to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act or have a social responsibility statement that clearly outline no forced or child labor. The cell phones have proven a bit difficult as there is not one ethical cell-phone made today; we have decided that going with used/reconditioned cell phones meets our requirement.

Here’s where you come in. Each bag costs right around $300.00 and we don’t have funding for them yet. To pull off our goal of 8 more survivor bags in 2013 we’re looking for $2400.00 or to partner with organizations who want to build their own survivors bags (meeting the ethical requirements).

If you are interested in donating, please go to our main page and click on the donate tab to the right; anything you give goes a long way (and fyi, we don’t take a cut) or if you are interested in working with us so that your organization can build their own, please contact us at info@imaginefreedom.org

Thanks for taking the time to read this, we really look forward to ending human trafficking together with you.

- Jesse

Each Survivor Bag costs around $300.00

Each Survivor Bag costs around $300.00

Here are our first 2 survivor bags heading to the FBI

Here are our first 2 survivor bags heading to the FBI

 

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2013 Schedule of Events

By on January 27, 2013 in blog, Solutions, What you can do

Imagine Foundation 2013 schedule of events

 For further info please email: info@imaginefreedom.org

January:

BOD meeting Sunday January 27 1pm, Independence Panera

February:

Design & print public library and school bookmarks

Barhopping info drop with volunteers SaturdayFeb 2nd at 8pm Happy dog

Initial Delivery of survivor bags

Hotel bookmark drop east side (Mentor, Euclid, Willoughby) Saturday February 23 12:00pm Mentor Panera 7357 Mentor Ave Mentor, OH 44060

March:

BOD meeting Sunday March 24th at 1pm, Independence Panera

Public library bookmark drop off Saturday March 23 at 12:00, Independence Panera

Barhopping info drop with volunteers Saturday Mach 30 at 8pm Rocky River Brewing Co.

April:

2nd batch survivor bags assembled & delivered

JB & Courtney in Iowa at Dubuque Univ. & training Dubuque police April 3-6

Fundraiser Saturday April 27th  8pm Venue TBA

May:

BOD meeting Sunday May 12 at 1pm, Independence Panera

Barhopping info drop with volunteers Saturday May 18th at 8pm Willoughby Brewing Co.

June:

Bike night Quaker Steak & Lube Wednesday June 12 at 6pm Quaker Steak, Valley View

Public library bookmark drop off Saturday June 15th at 12:00

July:

BOD meeting Sunday July 14th at 1pm, Independence Panera Mid Year Review

Bike night Quaker Steak & Lube Wednesday July 10 at 6pm Quaker Steak, Valley View

August:

Sturgis South Dakota Aug 6-12 info drop **

September:

BOD meeting Sunday September 15th at 1pm, Independence Panera

3rd batch survivor bags assembled & delivered

Browns Tailgating Sunday 9-22 7am -3pm Municipal Lot

October:

Browns Tailgating Sunday 10-13 7am – 3pm Municipal Lot

Family Friendly Halloween party & fundraiser Saturday October 6th 6pm TBD

November:

BOD meeting Sunday 11-17 at 1pm, Independence Panera

Hotel bookmark drop West side Saturday November 23 12:00pm Strongsville Panera 1304 Southpark Ctr.

December:

Imagine Foundation BOD & volunteer Christmas party Saturday 12-21 at 6pm TBD

Imagine Foundation BOD Meetings:

Imagine foundation Board of Directors meetings will be held bimonthly throughout the year. It is imperative that all Board of Directors and interested stakeholders attend these meetings. All attempts will be made to have meetings last one hour, however at times meetings may run over.

Imagine Foundation survivor bags:

The Imagine Foundation survivor bags are a new initiative attempting to give rescued individuals a fresh start upon leaving or being rescued from human trafficking situations. Initial bags were purchased and assembled in the year 2012. Our goal is to distribute 10 survivor bags in the year 2013 to law enforcement as needed.

Imagine foundation hotel/motel Bible bookmarks:

The purpose of the Bible bookmark is to place a piece of anti-trafficking literature in every Bible in every hotel room in northeastern Ohio. In the year 2012 we distributed 5000 anti-trafficking bookmarks in and around Northeastern Ohio. In the year 2013 we hope to equip hotels and motels with 10,000 additional Bible bookmarks.  During scheduled times volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed areas, be given a list of hotel/motels and quantity of Bible bookmarks to be distributed. Volunteers will have a letter explaining the program and will report back to the volunteer coordinator with what hotels/motels agreed to or did not agree to the anti-trafficking literature.

Imagine Foundation barhopping night out:

The purpose of the Imagine foundation barhopping is to equip drinking establishments with anti-trafficking literature within targeted areas. Volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed areas and will be given a quantity of anti-trafficking crop cards to distribute in and around the drinking establishment.

Imagine Foundation bike night:

The imagine foundation will set up a booth at Quaker steak and Lube’s bike night to distribute anti-trafficking literature, sell T-shirts, and seek support of the biker community.

Imagine Foundation public library information drop:

Traffickers target 12 to 16 year old adolescents on the Internet who are online often, have young sounding and provocative screen names and inquire about sex online. The public library bookmarks are intended to get out information directly to those at risk of sex trafficking. Volunteers will meet at the pre-prescribed locations, be given a letter of support from the imagine foundation and a quantity of public library bookmarks to be given to local libraries.

**Sturgis 2013:

Going to Sturgis rally and race is dependent on financial donations to send a team there. This trip is not included in the yearly Imagine Foundation Budget. If there is to be a team to go there will be a proposed addendum to the 2013 budget to allow it. Sturgis, South Dakota is home to one of the largest biker parties in the world. Between 500,000  and 750,000 converge on the small town yearly.  Our goal in going to Sturgis is to set up pop up water distribution centers giving away free bottled water with anti-trafficking literature on the bottle, distribute anti-trafficking drop cards of the local bars, and to distribute anti-trafficking shirts to the bar girls and commercial sex workers in the area. This will be a weeklong venture; volunteers will be traveling to Sturgis, South Dakota and camping at a local campground.

Browns tailgating:

The Cleveland Browns is known for its tailgating antics and is a perfect place to recruit individuals for anti-trafficking efforts. The Imagine Foundation will set up a tailgating booth during the prescribed times to hand out anti-trafficking information, sell T-shirts and generally have a good time. Volunteers must be at the tailgating area at 7 AM to set up the booth and are expected to stay until the start of the game. At the booth, the imagine foundation will be projecting the Browns game, hosting a tricycle race for free T-shirts and giving away grilled hotdogs.

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3-pillars of human rights work

By on January 26, 2013 in blog, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions, The Cleveland backpage report, What you can do

Lately I’ve been feverishly writing in my notebook. I’m a little somebody might find it, it looks like the writings of those raving lunatics you see in the movies. There’s diagrams, arrows, circles and paragraph after paragraph of sloppily written cursive…. Out of all of the gobbledy-gook that I’ve been writing down, a few coherent thoughts have emerged and here’s one of them: There are 3-pillars which human rights work must be based on.

Our work must be ethical, economically sustainable, and repeatable.

Ethical:we have to do what is right, always. (read about the difference between morals and ethics here). The ends can not ever justify the means. Case in point: I heard someone say that he would do what is right, even if it meant doing what was wrong (what an awful idea, isn’t that how wars get started???). American culture was born out of oppression and stigmatization and unfortunately we still hold that cultural lens today. Our empire was built on the extermination of native cultures, a lower-skilled and exploitable working class and an easily corruptible consumer class. Don’t call me Un-American for saying this, I’m red, white and blue through and through. I also believe in  capitalism and free market economy. It’s just incredibly important to realize that our standing and national character is built on the ethics of manifest-destiny or expansion at all costs. To end human rights violations and human trafficking we need to see past previous flaws in our national character, acknowledge them and form a new standing culture wherein doing what is right and just is cool and respected.

Economically sustainable: The economic model of charity is not sustainable. For the better part of human history people have been giving money to try and end the worlds wrongs. It hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Sure, giving money feels good (sometimes) and in the short-term it does make some differences. But what does simply giving money do to promote human rights in the long-run? I’m not much for quotes. Personally I think that if you’ve got something to say, use your own words; but the Chinese Proverb got it right. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats a whole bunch of fish… (or something like that). If someone wants to make a difference they use their money to promote a model which is economically sustainable. For example, work with a food kitchen to fund and raise a community garden so they’re not constantly in need of financial donations to purchase food; they’re growing their own and may even generate a surplus income to help support their work. A great model is the company “Made by survivors”; they’re working with survivors of human trafficking to generate a sustainable income through the manufacturing of cottage-industry products. When someone purchases one of their products they’re not giving to charity, they’re investing in a successful economic model that helps to end human trafficking.

Repeatable: As many people know, I’m a teacher by day (and awesome ninja by night...). As a teacher, I’ve watched every inspirational teaching movie out there where some middle-class nobody heads into the inner-city and turns around a rag-tag group of students (cue movie montage). In just about every one of those movies at the end there is some update where the teacher quit, was fired, forced to retire or left to take another job. In short, they were a shooting star and fizzled out once they achieved short-term success. In a book written about Geoffrey Canada (awesome educational theorist) he said that he didn’t need any more superstar teachers; what he needed was a model that worked. He’s right, it’s great that one or two people can achieve drastic and dramatic results; but what about all the others? Any human rights work needs to be based on a model, written down and shared with others so that it can be made repeatable. Unfortunately as of yet I don’t see that happening in the advocacy world. The software world is amazing with it with their concept of opensourcing; but in the human rights world, we’re still contending with some pretty hefty ego’s and budgetary constraints that keeps much of our work secretive. We’ll get there in time though.

So there it is: Ethical, Economically Sustainable and Repeatable. The 3-pillars that we need to base future work on.

What do you think?

- JB

 

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How not to end human trafficking

By on January 19, 2013 in blog, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions, What you can do

As a human rights advocate I subscribe to just about every social media feed out there to learn what others are doing and how we can do our job better. In the process, I’ve learned quite a bit on how not to end human trafficking. I thought I would share a few of them with you.

Let’s call these the “three pillars of how not to end human trafficking”.

1. Scaring people won’t make caring people

2. Celebrity endorsements are a joke.

3. Stop looking to the government.

 

While these may sound harsh, please allow me a moment to explain.

1. For some reason when people get turned onto human rights or animal rights for that manner, the natural inclination is to inundate their fiends via social media with horrid stories of abuse, frightening statistics and a general alarmist tone. THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!

Case in point: The ASPCA and Sarah McLaughlin. By this point we’ve all seen the video and we’ve all felt helpless and sick when we see the pictures and hear the sad sad styling of “eyes of an angel”. The youtube video garners about 300,000 views give or take. Compare that to the great video “Ultimate Dog Tease” which is a clip of a guy messing around with his dog and adding a voice over track to it. At last count that video has 128,358,369 views on youtube. Imagine if the positivity and fun of Dog Tease was combined with the message of the ASPCA. You’ve got a winning combination.

If you want to end human trafficking, don’t focus on all of the horrific aspects of the crime, focus on tangible positive aspects that people can do. During an interview a couple of years ago a gentlemen told me about the concept of “buycot”, not boycot. You tell people to avoid a product and it’s inherently negative, but if you promote a product people are more likely to hear your message. If you want more info, check out our 3ways blog post or New Years Resolution Post on positive things you can share to end human trafficking.

2. Celebrity endorsements are a joke. Ok, I know already that I’ll catch some flack for this but I don’t respect celebrity and I know many others don’t as well. Within the human rights movement I’ve seen celebrity after celebrity lend their names to items only to be trashed sooner or later by some indiscretion. It’s great that they want to be a part of something and testify before congress or make a PSA but the simple fact of the matter is that celebrities aren’t experts in the field and many make their money in some pretty unethical ways. Case in point Jada Pickett Smith who learned about human trafficking through her daughter and the KONY2012 video in the spring and by summer is testifying before congress regarding the passage of an intense and integral piece of human trafficking legislation. If a celebrity is truly serious about human rights issues, where is the ethically made clothing line they endorse, the viral music video about promoting literacy and ending poverty and their continued message of peace and good will. There is a serious difference between wanting one’s name associated with doing good and actually doing good.

If celebrities want to make a difference they should use their status to promote sustainable, ethical and repeatable solutions to making the world a better place; not just lend their name to a cause.

3. Stop looking to the government for leadership and guidance in human rights issues. For some reason the American public has forgotten that we play an inherent role in the government, the formation of policy and the enforcement of laws. Each presentation I do on human trafficking someone naturally asks “why isn’t the government doing anything about human trafficking”? I instantly respond with “if you’re not doing anything to end human trafficking why should the government care”? Slavery in all of its forms is illegal as outlined by the U.S. Constitution and numerous supporting court cases. To respond to the illegalities as outlined, numerous government agencies work on a daily basis to end human trafficking including ICE, HHS and the Department of Labor. In short, the government is doing quite a bit to end human trafficking. We the people need to step up and take some responsibility for our human rights issues and stop looking to the government to do it for us. The government has what, a couple of million employees? The US population is well over 300million, which group of people will have a greater impact if they choose to act?

 

I know that this blog post is a bit more cynical than most of what I write. I’m in a bit of a cynical funk right now after contacting numerous media agencies regarding the 8 missing girls in Youngstown, Ohio. I was told that it really wasn’t a story, or it wasn’t in their coverage area… yeah, who would care about 8 teenage missing girls in 9 months in one city.

So that’s it for now, I’ll try to be less cynical in the coming weeks.

- JB

 

 

 

 

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Update: 10 missing teenage girls in Youngstown Ohio

By on January 14, 2013 in Domestic Trafficking, What you can do

This Blog entry was originally published on 1-14-2013. This information is updated on 2-03-13 to reflect 2 new missing children in Youngstown. This blog is updated again at 6:50 PM on 2-03-13 to reflect new information

The state of Ohio has updated their missing kids website to reflect that there are currently 5 missing teenage girls from Youngstown Ohio. They are

Jasmine Eubanks Missing 2-21-13

Alicia Negron Missing 11-26-12

Nautica Rivers Missing 11-10-12

Isis Hilson Missing 10-27-12

Brandee Bucklee Missing 5-23-12

 

This Blog entry was originally published on 1-14-2013. This information is updated on 2-03-13 to reflect 2 new missing children in Youngstown

Jasmine Eubanks Missing since 2-21-2013

Alicia Negro Missing since 11-26-2012

So Youngstown, Ohio has a problem with missing teenage girls & law enforcement & the media isn’t reporting on it, we need to to try to bring these girls home. Please share this blog posting & ask yourself why this information isn’t blasted over every media outlet? Info is taken from the State of Ohio Missing Kids Website.

Nautica Rivers: 16 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 11-10-2012

Amber Light: 17 year years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 11-07-2012

Isis Hilson: 17 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 10-27-2012

Taylor Labus: 15 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 10-23-2012

Danyelle Wilkerson: 17 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 10-13-2012

Tamela Donald: 16 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 9-29-2012

Kiarra Jackson: 15 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 8-3-2012

Brandee Bucklee: 12 years old missing from Youngstown, Ohio 5-23-2012

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Explination of our 3ways posts

By on January 13, 2013 in blog, Education, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Prevention, Solutions

One of our Imagine Foundation supporters asked us to clarify on our popular 3ways to end human trafficking social media posts.

Here you go:

While many people advocate against sex trafficking, it is only one small part of the whole of human trafficking and one in which human rights advocates participate in the least. So our 3ways postings represent simple ways to act locally to change globally.

Many Ways that you can end human trafficking:

Plant a tomato garden (or any vegetables/produce for that matter): Agriculture is an area known to use both child and forced labor. By producing your own food locally, you are helping to remove the financial incentive growers and agricultural producers have to financially exploit workers. Check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for a great organziation striving to remove exploitation in our food stocks.

Drink/eat/buy anything fair trade: The Fair Trade moniker means that the grower/producer recieves a fair wage for their product. This helps to remove the financial incentive involved in exploiting workers. It’s important to note that fair trade does not mean exploitation free, it just represents a way to lower the possibility for exploitation to occur within the product lines. Check out Fair Trade USA to learn more.

Buy from Companies that prescribe to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act: In 2010, California passed an act that “requires companies to report on specific actions taken to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in their supply chain. Your company must report if it meets these three criteria”:

  1. Your company files its California taxes as a retailer or manufacturer.
  2. Your company does business in California as defined in the California Revenue and Taxation Code.
  3. Your company earns more than $100 million in worldwide gross receipts

Learn more about SB 657, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.

Purchase Vintage Jewelry: Gold, precious metals and gemstones are known to use child and forced labor. Everybody watched Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie “Blood Diamond“, and a bunch of people remember KONY2012. These situations exist because we buy the items that allow such exploitation. If we remove the finances that warlords use to enslave and exploit workers, their tyranny folds. By going with vintage jewelry, the bad guys don’t get the money to do future damage.

Don’t buy sex: We’ve got an unhealthy relationship with sex. Now don’t get me wrong, sex is an inherently good thing, but when kids are getting sold to meet customer demand, something is horribly wrong. Commercial sex involves any form of porn, prostitution or stripping/exotic dancing. Sex trafficking is hidden within preexisting commercial sex markets. It is near impossible to tell the difference between a willing consensual prostitute and a scared little girl who’s being forced into it. Now the uneducated commercial sex consumer would say that they could tell if someone was being forced into it and therefore wouldn’t partake. Unfortunately one can’t discern the difference between willing and unwilling partners. Buy removing the financial incentive to exploit others for sex, the system folds and there isn’t sexual exploitation.

Education & Sharing: I’ve been talking about human trafficking for around 5 years now and am constantly amazed by others who say “that’s going on around here”? We have to peacefully pollute the Internet and airways with the information that people need to end human trafficking. Without education, exploitation will flourish.

That’s it for now. I’ll continue to update this and add more as we figure out more easy ways that we can end human trafficking together.

Imagine what’s possible if we just try.

- JB

 

 

 

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Finally, some ethical “dude” clothes

By on January 1, 2013 in Solutions, What you can do

So I’m a human rights advocate and I work to end human trafficking with every breath. But I’m also a dude and like to dress as one. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not a sexist comment ( I am also a hardcore feminist). I’m just saying that many of the “ethical” clothing lines and manufacturers can be a bit “non-dudish” for me. They’re also available in sizes small and medium and every now and again a large or two… I haven’t worn those sizes since birth.

On January 1st, 2012 the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act was officially enacted & I couldn’t be more happy. Tons of manufacturers are signing on and we need to support them.

My two favorite clothing lines, Levis & Dickies are signed on & are officially examining their supply lines to ensure no forced labor.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going fashionista at all, it just means that I can buy these brands & not worry that my dollars are being used for oppression. In essence, I can be lazy, while doing good.

This upcoming year I’m going to be blogging alot about responsible purchasing. Let’s be honest, many people care about the sex aspect of human trafficking  but often forget about the forced labor aspect. Sex trafficking is an abhorrent practice but very few people actually participate in it. Forced labor however, that’s a totally different story. We all buy, eat, drink and use products made by forced labor.

This year, learn more about what your money goes to support.

For me, I’m going to wear a grey Dickies overshirt, a black Dickies undershirt and a pair of Levis pretty much all year long. I’ll wear them with pride & knowing that I’m not dressed in oppression.

Your dollar is your voice, spend wisely.

- JB

Spend well this year

 

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So, it’s 2013… now what???

By on December 31, 2012 in Jesse's Personal Viewpoints

2012 is over. For me it was a ton of 70+ hour workweeks, reading tens of thousands of pages of research, writing hundreds of pages of my own, struggling to make ends meet financially, no social life & justifying myself in almost every conversation. It was also beautiful sunrises, lots of laughter, the building of confidence, amazing conversations and awesome friends & family. But what next?

I’m always so excited about the new year, not because of drinking or partying but because of the unknown. Where will we be in 365 short days? What will have happened, who will we gain, who will we lose. What does the future hold?

For us at The Imagine Foundation, 2013 will be a year of building our team and identity; figuring out how best to accomplish our goals and help others. We’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to have successes and we’re going to keep on heading in the right direction. We’re going to keep working with the public not to just talk about human rights & ending human trafficking but taking ethical, repeatable and sustainable steps to actually make it happen.

Happy New Year,

I look forward to seeing everyone on the flip side and continuing to work towards the betterment of humankind.

Peace

- JB

 

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10 ways you can end human trafficking in 2013

By on December 13, 2012 in Abolition, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking, Prevention, Solutions

Will you work for others freedoms as others worked for yours?

Here is our list of some easy ways to end human trafficking in the year 2013.

1. Fair trade products whenever possible: Fair Trade products are less likely to use forced or child labor due to the requirements to label fair trade. Also, the producers receive a fair wage for their product so they are more likely to pay employees.

2. Eat local: Food and agriculture are known areas to employ both child and forced labor. The intense agricultural regulations of the US & knowing the grower means that you are less likely to inadvertently eat food produced by slavery.

3. Go Vintage with precious metals & jewelry: Kony 2012 did a great job showcasing the horrors of child soldiers but didn’t talk about where the funding for such small armies come from. Gold, precious metals & diamonds are known to fund human rights violations such as slavery & child soldiers. Vintage products do not support current or future exploitation. There’s no such thing as a used diamond.

4. Grow a garden: For the same reasons as #2, growing your own garden helps to end the burden for profit in commercial agriculture, lessening the need for low cost and potentially exploitable workers.

5. Stop looking at porn: I know, sounds like we’re up on a soap box here but porn promotes the oppression and objectification of women which eventually leads to sex trafficking. Additionally, many Eastern European countries have lax or no laws against child pornography.

6. Promote literacy to kids: Human trafficking is directly related to the inequality faced by the have’s and have not’s. One of the major reasons traffickers get into the game is lack of other viable forms of income, victims are taken advantage of due to lack of education. Care about human rights? Teach kids & give them an economic future through education.

7. Good clothing choices: Check the labels on your clothing, buy items made in the US and from companies who clearly outline in their social responsibility statements that they use no forced or child labor.

8. Quit buying illegal drugs: Many view drugs as a victimless crime, they’re not. They just transfer the victims to an area far away, the murders in Mexico are a direct result of the US’s drug habit. Drug lords are known to traffick victims for sex & use child soldiers to protect their wares. End their funding, end the crime.

9. Donate social media posts to equality: Let’s be honest here, many of us are trolls on the internet. Share messages of equality & hope, post an NGO’s positive uplifting work, give the oppressed a voice.

10. Play matchmaker: This one may be hard to handle, but help guys meet girls. The few instances of reputable interviews with John’s (people who purchase commercial sex) talk about the intense loneliness they feel. If you help people meet people & develop a social life, they are less likely to purchase commercial sex. If they are less likely to purchase commercial sex, traffickers won’t have financial incentive to exploit others. ( I know this one may be controversial)

 

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Difference between charity & ending inequality

By on December 8, 2012 in Abolition, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions

I haven’t updated this blog in a while, I apologize for that. The last several months have been incredibly hectic, full of travel and research presentations. However, I’ve used this time away well. Some of my recent research has had to do with inequality, the conditions which allow human rights violations to occur. I’m fascinated why so many individuals pour over each other to donate money to a charity which operates in a faraway place, while disgustedly stepping over a homeless individual in their own city. The answer, is inequality.

Charity makes us feel good about ourselves, it legitimizes our own work and showcases our high moral values for others to see.  Charity allows us to help others without really examining the conditions or parameters that allows their oppression. Charity is easy, it keeps us from getting our hands dirty, keeps us from thinking, charity is visible and recognizable and easy to be bragged about.

Ending inequality however, is a much different area. To even admit to inequality somehow  de-legitimizes our work, and it showcases our moral failings. Inequality requires intense examinations of the conditions and parameters which allows oppression. Inequality is difficult, our hands have to get dirty, we have to think, it’s often invisible, most people  will not brag about inequality.

To truly make a difference in the world, we need more people are willing to work against inequality. People who are willing to make minor modifications to their lifestyles so as to avoid oppressing others. We need people who won’t just blindly write checks or only support causes verbally, we need people who will work to make the world a better place.

The only reason I’m writing this today is because of my own recent choice to avoid slavery and child labor in my clothing. I now look at every label of everything I purchase, I check out the companies social responsibility statement and tweet or message a company I want to buy from if they don’t clearly outline their policies and procedures. It’s a huge pain in the butt, but it’s made me a better person for it.

The Imagine Foundation began with one party long ago, it was a charity benefit. I know now, that many of our practices that first year to rescue kids out of slavery we may have inadvertently oppressed others through our spending choices. The Imagine Foundation now tackles inequality. We’re putting together bags for domestic survivors of human trafficking. We sat around a table recently looking only for items made in the US & items made with social responsibility statements. We clearly agreed that working with survivors here can not oppress others in the process.

Freedom can’t be hypocritical. Your dollar is your voice, spend wisely.

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Don’t lose sight of the positives

By on August 23, 2012 in Human Trafficking, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Slavery, Solutions, What you can do

I wake up every morning to fight losing battles. It’s not a negative statement, it’s just the truth. No matter how hard I try, work & struggle there is no way that I will see the complete ending of slavery and the implementation of equality and human rights in my lifetime. I will lose in this but that doesn’t mean that I’ll give up or even consider slowing down.

As a human rights/human trafficking advocate it’s really easy to get swallowed up by the darkness and lose sight of the positives in the world.

I’ve found that many organizations and individuals focus on the problem by using alarming statistics or figures or imagery. It’s a ploy to almost shame a person into caring. Each time I see something like this I usually tune out and completely miss their message. Trying to get people involved through fear or anger is easy but it’s not sustainable. Generally speaking people don’t like to live in a constant state of fear or alarm.

If you really want to get people involved, show them the positive side of the work. Show someone how powerful they are to enact meaningful change. Show a person that they can truly make a difference and they will pick up that cause as their own and continue on. Eventually working within that cause won’t be something that they just “do”, it will be something that they become.

If we truly want to enact meaningful change in our lifetimes, leaders will have to look past the problems to see the solutions. Empowered, educated, economically sound, caring people are the solution.

We are the solution.

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I hope.

By on August 8, 2012 in Domestic Trafficking, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Solutions

Almost every time I speak about human trafficking or human rights in general someone states “what is the government doing to…” just fill in the blank with whatever topic was at hand. The simple fact of the matter is that slavery in all of its forms is illegal. The Declaration of Human Rights guarantees human rights. The government at times, punishes those who violates such items; but it is up to us, people to prevent it; to stop it. The government and elected officials in general are so worried about being re-elected, keeping their jobs and not offending their constituents that they have forgotten their role. They work for us. They are our employees, not the other way around. If we truly wanted change, we the populous could demand it.

The truth is, I fear. We don’t want to be inconvenienced with such things.

We don’t want to be inconvenienced with demanding equality or fairness.

We don’t want to be troubled with pointing out blatant human human rights violations in our own neighborhoods.

We want to be happy, carefree & rich.

We want to live in a world without pain and suffering but look to the other guy to make it happen.

I believe that we have it in us to lay the groundwork for an amazing society, one where all people are happy and free. A society that respects and enjoys differences and works for the betterment of humankind. A world where children only hear of slavery, war and genocide in history books.

Unfortunately we’re not there yet. We’re still in our infancy. Squabbling over who is right and who is wrong, who gets a bigger piece of the pie. Arguing over skin color and money, killing each other in the names of God.

We’re children, still in our infancy.

If we as a global citizenry only realized our potential. The potential we have to enact positive change, the potential we have to bring freedom and happiness to the world. If we only put to use the gift of our hearts, minds and souls we could stop the senseless bickering and move onto what really matters; our humanness.

I hope that we get there someday. I hope for all the people who attend church, synagogue, temple. I hope for the people who practice yoga in the name of peace and harmony. I hope for the teachers and the nurses; the police and the firefighters. I hope for the soldiers and the criminals.

I hope that someday all of us realize that we are bound by our human attributes and that in our differences lie our greatest similarities.

I hope that someday I don’t have to talk about human trafficking and human rights violations.

I hope that someday they just don’t exist.

 

 

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“falling” for human rights work

By on August 5, 2012 in Child Slavery, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Nepal

I write about a lot of intense items in this blog and for good reason. Human trafficking is one of the great concerns of the 21st century. It’s heavy stuff. Every now and again though there’s a story that has to be shared, a story too funny not to be documented.

In Cleveland, Ohio (my hometown) there was a torrential downpour this morning. It made me think of a time, long ago in Nepal.

I had just taken a small bus 16 hours across Nepal to the small village of Narti, where I would be working with girls who had been rescued from the Kamlari system (indigenous child slavery of western Nepal). It was to be my first volunteering venture working with survivors. I stepped off of the bus into the monsoon rains, pouring onto my every step. The small mud and straw house I would be living in was about a mile off, I was hauling a 60lb pound pack and it was the better part of 3 million degrees.

The pavement ended and I was now on centuries-old pack mud which led to the village, my friend and guide by my side. Along the path was a torrential small river, swollen with the monsoon rains. 100 feet from the house there was a slight muddy incline

About 2 minutes before I rolled in the mud

…

My right foot hit the muddy incline and flew out from underneath me 3-stooges style. I flew backward into the mud and slowly slid into quick moving waters, my pack weighing me down. Being scared of water I freaked out a bit and body crawled quickly across the muddy embankment and onto the muddy path. I attempted to stand but now soaked my shoes couldn’t grip on the sticky click clay. I fell again. Scared of going back into the river I hugged the mud for dear life and refused to give up. I crawled like a Marine across the slight muddy incline and managed to stand victorious on the other side.

My friend and guide looked at me, pointed downwards and said in perfect English “there is mud on your pants”.

I laughed uncontrollably.

That was many years ago.

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Frederick Douglass

By on July 4, 2012 in Education, Jesse's Personal Viewpoints, Slavery

On July 5th, 1852 Frederick Douglass asked an American public:

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.”

His words are poignant and heartfelt and extremely difficult for a free person to hear; but they are true.We have become complacent accepting freedom for the majority while allowing bondage for others. We have allowed our comfort to cloud our judgement and accepted gross injustice while enjoying liberty. What, to the American slave, is our 4th of July?

Today I will celebrate with my friends and families knowing that around N.E. Ohio (my home) will be individuals who are denied basic human rights. This is a travesty that I have been reminded of every 4th of July since learning of Mr. Douglass’ speech.

Today we celebrate American independence but it’s an empty hollow celebration because freedom denied to one is freedom denied to all.

We can do better.

Thank you Mr. Douglass, your words carry meaning today as they did so long ago.

We will not give up the fight for freedom.

Happy 4th of July.

 

 

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Our kids

By on June 3, 2012 in Jesse's Personal Viewpoints

I’m not a dad, have no kids so feel free to discount what I’m going to say.

We are failing our children.

We are failing through our own selfishness, ego-centrism and consumerism.

On any given day one can see children playing on a playground while parents or caregivers sit off on the sideline feverishly texting or checking their work e-mail on their smart phones.

We are failing them. We argue about politics and healthcare, economy and education but why? Why, when our greatest investment in the future, our children are left waning and unprotected; left out of the argument.

The argument shouldn’t be who’s rich and who’s poor, who is smart and who isn’t. The argument should be “how do we make our kids lives better than our own”. That’s all that matters.

Human existence is a cycle, it’s the older generations responsibility to prep the younglings for life and to get the world ready to greet them. I feel though that recent developments have made it a “me” world and even though we love our kids, it’s not about them anymore, it’s about us.

We say we want the best for our kids but for some reason that has become electronics, shoes, fancy clothes and commercial things. The best we can give them is a safe, stable and bountiful future.

So how do we do that?

-conversation: when was the last time you had a legitimate conversation with your kid? Not about school, or about some dramatic incident but a legitimate human dialogue?

-education: do you make your kid do homework? Do they study at all? Do you stress knowledge?

-economics: do you talk to your kid about money, what it is, what it isn’t and how it can work for them?

-humanity: kids learn through observation, what do you look like to your kid? Are you generous, caring, understanding?

-safety: is your kid protected from the outside world and themselves?

This blog post is resultant of my recent research into missing kids. I’ve been looking at their faces a lot recently and can only imagine what their families are going through. I wonder if they had to do it all over again what they would do differently.

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/MissingKids

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Ethical, sustainable & repeatable

By on May 13, 2012 in Abolition, Domestic Trafficking, Project SAFE, Solutions

Ending human trafficking requires out of the box thinking, a departure from traditional roots in activism and counseling and into business models (yes I’ve been reading a whole lot lately about business).

The model to end human trafficking must be ethical, sustainable and repeatable. It must involve education, empowerment, counseling, faith and economics. The people involved in human trafficking & abuse must be given improved educational and economic alternatives so as remove themselves from the cyclical nature of the crime.

Here’s what I mean. Traffickers don’t just wake up one day and decide to sell human beings. It’s a crime of economics that they employ to make money. Through their socio-cultural upbringing they escalate through smaller level criminal-enterprise to one day end up in the business of buying and selling people. They have a business insight that was somehow corrupted, somehow criminalized during their upbringing.

What if we find out that traffickers first engage in criminal money-making enterprise in 6th grade. If 6th grade was the first time that they earned money illegally. To a 13 year old kid, earning money legally or illegally is a big deal. Now what if we could put in an intervention at 5th grade, one that exposed the child to legitimate ways of earning a living. Say some sort of scripted entrepreneurship intervention. If we can get to the kid and show him that one can legally earn money before the streets show him the illegal methods; what could happen?

Could we intervene in the trafficking process before it even happens thus negating the entire system of abuse?

In dealing with trafficking victims, what if we can intervene during the formative years when a child may be engaging in potentially dangerous situations. If we can offer that child an alternative from seeking attention in the wrong places while educating her about potentially dangerous situations; could we then intervene before she’s victimized?

Unfortunately the model for such thinking doesn’t exist yet. It’s going to take a whole bunch of people to figure it out & it has to be ethical, sustainable and repeatable. We need to be able to duplicate this model widespread to truly end trafficking.

 

 

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