Modern Day Slavery

Slavery. When you hear the word you automatically have disgust for it, coming from our history as a nation, slavery certainly isn’t tolerated nowadays, or is it? Tricky. I’m unsure whether or not to reply philosophically or not, so I’ll try to combine it.

It certainly exists in America, all you have to do is a Google search of “modern day slavery in America” and you get numerous results, many are human trafficking, specifically for women and children. Whether it’s for work on a farm or into the sex trade, it definitely exists no matter how disgusted we are all with the thought of it.

Now to get philosophical about it, I think we, the American people are slaves to ignorance. Think about it. Do you really know what’s going on outside of your city? Your state? Your country? My intent isn’t to offend you, I promise, but do you know what’s going on? Slavery is kept under wraps in America, it’s not something to speak openly about as to whether or not it’s going on at this very minute. Did you know that many innocent people are sold into the sex trade every day? People our age, people younger. If you did, has it crossed your mind in the past 48 hours? Past week? Past month? No, it doesn’t affect you on a daily basis.

Last year in my World Studies class we were learning about the Congo, and then present day Congo and everything that’s going on there. We read an article from the New York Times and were immediately disgusted by what was happening to the women there. They were being brutally gang raped by men from opposing armies; there was nothing they could do, and many times it would happen day after day, without anytime for the wounds, both physical and mental to heal. This had been going on for quite some time and I knew nothing of it.

I was watching Law & Order: SVU one night, and it was about a woman who emigrated from the Congo and had witnessed a rape, when the prosecutor asked her how she knew it was a rape, she replied with a look in her eyes hard to forget, “I know when someone is being raped.” It was true. But even though the issue was on television, I doubt many thought twice about it.

Last year in my Art class we had to do a canvas painting of a present day issue, many chose equality, gay marriage, the war on crime, I chose the Congo. Many asked what I was doing it on and when I told them they had no clue as to what it was. They were disgusted and didn’t want to look at the painting (although I must admit it was a little graphic).

The reason that story is relevant is that even when an injustice was presented right in front of their face, they wanted to remain ignorant about it. True, it was happening 6,000 miles away, but you would think something that inhumane would have attention surrounding it. Guess not.

It’s foolish to think that slavery doesn’t exist anymore, much less in our own backyard, so to speak. We, as a nation, choose to remain ignorant about it because it’s not affecting us. We, are a slave to our ignorance.