Looking at The Life

BY AMY BLUMENSHINE

Southside neighbors are organizing to challenge sex trafficking.  Nearly 100 concerned citizens turned out in early February for the informational event at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, “Shining a Light in the Darkness: A Faith-Based response to sex trafficking.”
Experts in “The Life,” either as survivors or interveners, gave graphic testimony of the realities behind the illusions of sex trafficking.
One illusion is that women are making the choice to sell their bodies. As Terry Forliti of Breaking Free (which provides short- and long-term housing and programming for those who have been sex trafficked) explained,  “At the end of the day, if you don’t come home with that money you’re going to get beat [by the pimp].  Here’s the choice [given by the pimp]:  ‘Go with those three guys from North Dakota sitting at the table or those six guys at the motel. Or forge these checks.’  Women do not grow up to get into prostitution—80% are abused at the age of 5, 6, 7 or 8. When they finally run away, they’re likely to be picked up, and exploited.”
Although 69% of trafficked women are women of color, Forliti explained, trafficking can happen to any economic group. Her story was that of a suburban white girl being raped by her boss when she was 15.  He’d entrapped her by getting her drunk, and she never told anybody.  Her boss never looked at her after the rape, and the resulting feeling of self-degradation, of not being worthy, increased as other traumas occurred in her life. Using cocaine was a glamorized escape from those feelings, and she became addicted. To support her habit, she was trafficked in this neighborhood …“It’s oppression—I wanted to jump off a bridge. I climbed through windows here to sleep.  I was hungry a lot. I wanted to die.  I thought my life was over …”
And many do not survive being trafficked.  Forliti noted, “The Native American girls I hung out with are all dead.” Indeed, local Native American organizations are now working to stop the early deaths and other tragedies that result from sex trafficking of their girls. Dawn Bjoraker, of Native-American ancestry who’s on staff at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, talked about how 2,000 Native women had disappeared, presumably to early deaths,  and were the focus of a march on Valentine’s Day. Her organization also has programming for LGBTQ people, known as Two Spirit. She made the connection between colonizing and sex trafficking: “The commodification of the land equates to the commodification of women’s bodies.”
The speakers pointed out that while different cultures have different issues, and there are varying socio-economic pressures, it’s a societal problem regarding what makes it acceptable to buy a person.  Charisma Smith, of African-American ancestry, who works at the Family Partnership/PRIDE program, noted: “We live in a country that is built on buying people (as purchasers and sellers).  It’s embedded in our society to be OK with this. We don’t talk about it [the African slave trade] honestly. I know what our ancestors lived through but do we really have to live that way?  Let’s be addressing the truth; no more treating people as a commodity. If you can be sold, you will be sold; we are all at risk.”
The event was the first for a group of Southside Lutheran churches, including Bethel, Calvary, Holy Trinity, Mt. Olive, Our Saviour’s, and St. Paul’s Lutheran, and Cherish All Children, to raise awareness on sex trafficking.  The audience appreciated the voice of survivors, noting that it’s one thing to go through hell and get out of it, but to go back in to get others out is something even more amazing.
Learning from the movement to prevent domestic violence, interveners recognize that it takes a while for a woman to be ready to leave. Interveners must be poised for the small window when a trafficked woman is ready to leave.  Fortunately, Minnesota at this time is at the forefront of a sea change in approach to sex trafficking.  Called “Safe Harbor” and “No Wrong Door,” government intervention is focusing on the juveniles who become entrapped in the sale of their bodies (which is the sorry history of most of those being sold in “The Life”—street slang for prostitution and addiction).  Gradually, our society and professional interveners are becoming trauma-informed, addressing healing the trauma which is at the root of many problems—like addiction or accepting that one’s worth is only through the exploitation of one’s body.
In addition to working with victims, interveners also seek to stop the acceptance of sexual exploitation in part by promoting healthy masculinity and publicizing the harm done to all participants in sex trafficking. Counteracting the pornography so prevalent in the culture is the film “The Mask You Live In” which follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.  Emerging research suggests that erectile dysfunction and harm to significant intimate partnerships can result from participation in the buying and coerced performing of sexual acts.
Judging from the turn-out to recent southside community meetings on sexual exploitation, it’s clear that people want to make a difference. Even those who are just witnesses have a role to play; see the “clip and save” list.

Here’s a list on how to be part of intervention in street crimes provided by City Council Member Alondra Cano (who has taken a lead on dealing with this issue):
911 for all emergencies.
612-348-2345 for non-emergencies.
Call St. Stephen’s Street Outreach Workers, 612-874-0311, to get help for people who are experiencing homelessness.
Call Day One Services 24-hour crisis line, 1-866-223-1111, to get help for people experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, sexual violence or domestic abuse.
Call Dawn at Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, 612-728-2000, to get help for American Indian women experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, chemical dependency and domestic violence. The MIWRC is also able to serve GLBTQ victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
Call PRIDE 24-hour crisis line, 612-728-2062, to get help for people experiencing commercial sexual exploitation or substance abuse issues. PRIDE is also equipped to serve GLBTQ victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
If you suspect drug dealing but have not actually seen it call 612-673-5706.
If you are in doubt call 911 and they will route your call properly.
Contact Crime Prevention Specialist Karen Notsch, 612-673-2856, for issues South of Lake Street.