Human trafficking in Rowan County? Sounds implausible, right? But local residents organizing to fight the crime say it is happening here.
And they need your help to stop it.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center says the practice of forcing men, women and children into labor and sex trades is a $32 billion industry with 4.2 million victims. And it’s growing. The center experienced a 259 percent increase in calls between 2008 and 2012.
And although we tend to think of it plaguing less-civilized countries, the U.S. is one of the top destinations for human trafficking victims, the Southeast is one of the nation’s hot spots, and North Carolina is among the states with the most calls to the Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline.
And there’s evidence some of the casualties are in Rowan County, victims of sex and labor trafficking primarily among immigrants, Mark Wineka reported in an article Thursday.
“It’s happening right underneath our noses,” said Chasy Morse of the Salvation Army of Rowan County.
Jim Duncan couldn’t ignore the stench. A past chairman of the Rowan United Way campaign, Duncan started researching the problem over a year ago and has joined with the Salvation Army to assemble a team to combat human trafficking and establish resources to help victims.
They’ve organized a meeting — 10 a.m. to noon June 3 — at the Salvation Army Headquarters on Bringle Ferry Road, where the public can hear from Raleigh FIGHT, an anti-human trafficking group. If you can, attend the meeting. Even if you can’t, it’s worth learning more.
There are signs a person could be a victim of human trafficking, experts say, including being constantly accompanied by a controlling person, being overly submissive, or owing a debt to an employer and being unable to leave a job.
The Human Trafficking Resource Center at www.polarisproject.org has more information to help identify victims and find law enforcement resources, and a hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
North Carolina has laws on the books and Congress is trying to toughen federal penalties for the criminals who trade in human flesh and provide more protection for their victims. But stopping this will take more than a mandate from Raleigh or Washington.
What this is, plain and simple, is slavery. Kudos to Duncan, the Salvation Army and everyone else getting involved in the effort to oppose it, but they need help, and so do the victims.
If human trafficking is happening in Rowan County, it could be happening in your city, your town, your neighborhood — and if you’re the only person who recognizes it, you might be the only person who can stop it.