Rhonelle Bruder is an award-winning international speaker, advocate, writer, and founder of the RISE Program in Canada. RISE is a grassroots initiative that empowers vulnerable youth. Rhonelle discusses her life as a survivor and the RISE program, which is a survivor-led project that is trauma-informed and culturally responsive. They work to be inclusive and to empower survivors to thrive.
Read MoreThe week we present the second half of our interview with Breyonna Jones, a victim of sex trafficking who was raped, beaten, and traumatized by family, friends, and traffickers, only to later be convicted for a trafficking-related offense. Get an inside view of what happens to a trafficker’s life and what we produce when we rush to pass trafficking laws that inadvertently incarcerate the victimized, mentally ill, and abused populations without deep consideration for the collateral damage we may cause.
Read MoreImagine a little girl with hopes and dreams of living a safe, healthy and productive life of healing animals as a veterinarian. Then imagine being molested and silenced by your family, raped as an adolescent, blamed for your rape, rejected and abandoned by your family as a result, trafficked, physically brutalized, and made you give all of your money and time to your trafficker. The only system that enters your life labels you a trafficker and repeats what is familiar by degrading, shaming, and taking your freedom. In the anti-trafficking movement we would call the conviction of a trafficker a success, no? But traffickers are the ones who abuse, shame, and take a victim’s freedom, not the anti-trafficking movement right? If you are confused over the good guys and bad guys, listen to this episode to learn more about how a rush to judgement in passing harsh and stiff anti trafficking laws can cause irreputable collateral damage to some victims.
Read MoreIn 2010, Tom began his anti-trafficking fight and noticed that while men are the primary drivers behind the demand for sexual exploitation, very few were involved in combatting it. The EPIK Project brings men into the fight in effective and sustainable ways. In collaboration with the Portland Police Bureau, Tom took the hard road to build and lead an all-volunteer effort that’s grown into a national movement. As such, the Epik Project has successfully intercepted more than 170,000 attempts to purchase sex by over 85,000 buyers over the last 6 years. Training men how to engage local sex buyers at the point of sale works to disrupt the online market for illegal sex. This model has been replicated in 14 cities across the country with another 14 cities in the pipeline to involvement. September 1st, Tom leads an Epik 1,000 mile bike ride called "The Hard Road" across rough terrain to support women survivors and murdered and missing indigenous women.
Read MoreGetting your message across is just as important as the message itself. Learning to be a great public speaker is a skill. We all have blind spots and could become better presenters. Perhaps you have a great message, are passionate about the work, and are making a difference, but your presentation skills could be improved. A poor presentation baffles your audience, diminishes your efforts, and hurts the movement. How you package and deliver your message is as critical as the message itself and people need to receive both you and your message with open arms. Your presentation could be the spark that lights the fire under your audience members. Make it rain with a passionate and clear message delivered by an authentic and confident presenter, or make it trickle leaving the message and your work lost in translation. Listen to Coach Nancy, who provides realistic and achievable ways to become a great public speaker.
Read MoreThe need to move from a rescue and restore paradigm to a human rights paradigm is ever present. Early on in the U.S. the human trafficking movement began as a white movement made up of second wave feminists and evangelicals who saw criminal justice as allies in an attempt to solve the problem of slavery. This led to a doubling down of white privilege, enforcement, and patrol of people of color. To end human trafficking, we need to address root causes and create sustainable emancipation. In asking the question “What are we not looking at?” and “Who are we arresting?”, Dr. Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick enables us to focus on structural barriers related to the movement and asks us to look at the larger issues associated with modern slavery and forced labor. As a scholar focused on social movements, Dr. Choi-Fitzpatrick discusses his book “What Do Traffickers Think”, and in doing so, provides us with a deeper understanding of labor traffickers and the realities of blocked opportunities and unrealized equality. Most importantly he focuses us on the need to adopt goals and a vision that sets the movement on a course to end modern day slavery.
Read MoreWithin his series of books, “The Good Drone”, “What Slaveholders Think”, and “From Human Trafficking to Human Rights”, scholar Dr. Choi-Fitzpatrick challenges us to think about slavery and forced labor in a deeper and more complex way. From using Drones to count brick kilns In India as a way of developing prevalence to shifting our perspective from “rescue and restore” to “human rights”, Dr. Choi-Fitzpatrick leads us on an enlightening and powerful journey to the center of our purpose. An empowering and thought provoking episode that may change your perspective on slavery and open you up to a new way of engaging in advocacy.
Read MoreSex trafficking involves wealthy girls who leave the country only to be trafficked by foreigners with no one else to save them except Liam Neeson because they have been "TAKEN" right? Blockbuster hit, realty disaster! "The Turn Out", new film by Director Pearl Gluck, lays out the realities of sex trafficking and how it happens in small town America. After several months working closely with survivors and anti-trafficking advocates, Gluck provides a riveting and disturbing, yet real portrayal of the realities of sex trafficking in the U.S. The Turn Out premieres this week! July 30th through August 16th. A great film for promoting awareness and engaging in in-depth discussions with parents and their teens.
Read MoreThrough focused research, the Human Rights Legal Center found that many times victims, in the U.S., have been forced to testify against their trafficker in order for the state to win the case, regardless of the trauma the victim suffered or their willingness to testify. This “force” is in direct opposition to a victim-centered and trauma informed approach and is seemingly more aligned with the lack of freedom the victim was subjected to under the control of a trafficker. It is suspected that some victims may not be informed of their rights under the ‘Crime Victim’s Rights Act”, a law that is a powerful check against prosecutors who don’t act in the best interest of the victim. The Crime Victim’s Rights Act includes the right to be treated with fairness and the right to dignity and privacy. Prosecutors build their careers on winnable cases. Those that compel victims to testify against their wishes, may be acting in their own self-interest and those of the state. This serves to buy a winnable case, but at a cost paid by unwilling and traumatized victims who are left to deal with the psychological aftermath. In the second half of the interview Attorney Sarah Bessell discusses how for-profit prisons may be more aligned with labor trafficking practices, than punishment or rehabilitation.
Read MoreWhen survivors have lawyers, survivors have rights: This is the mission of the Human Trafficking Legal Center located in Washington, DC. The Legal Center has a database of every federal civil and criminal human trafficking case in the U.S. since 2009. They use this information to study trends in human trafficking, identify gaps, and advocate for change. In this episode, Deputy Director Sara Bessell, discusses some of the most critical trends occurring in the U.S. including the targeting by traffickers of those with disabilities, domestic violence and trafficking, and arresting victims in order to compel their testimony. The Legal Center is at your service to share the civil database, to pull criminal cases for you, or to potentially answer the questions you have.
Read MoreAshlie Bryant entered the prison system to learn from those who knew the most, the traffickers. She learned what they think, do, and say to manipulate youth. She and her two colleagues developed the 3Strands Global Foundation that focuses on anti-trafficking education, empowerment, and engagement. Using keen strategies and masterful principles, they serve as the force behind many positive interventions occurring across the states of California, Utah, and Texas. The success behind this work is credited to all of the diverse and invested stakeholders coming together to collaborate and do their part to educate students, engage survivors, and provide employment opportunities that help survivors to thrive. Learn how large scale anti-trafficking work is done.
Read MoreHeidi Wilt, decorator by trade with a heart for those in need, was called to help survivors meet their basic needs and achieve their goals. Only a short time later, Heidi found herself actually running a Drop-In Center called Alabaster Gift, located in a secret location for survivors. Heidi knows that she is there for a season and will soon hand over the reins to someone else. However, the work she has done during her short tenure changed the lives of some survivors. Taking on the challenge to lead, enables both you and others to have a transformational experience.
Read MoreFor the 50th Episode, the Emancipation Nation brings you the anti-trafficking pioneer, Dr. Lois Lee. Dr. Lee began her work fighting youth sex trafficking in the early 70s on the streets of Hollywood and to date, has 41 years of experience. Her pioneering work blazed the trail that other anti-trafficking advocates follow today. From suing the LAPD for not arresting customers to her involvement trying to save women from the Hillside strangler, Dr. Lee is a force for to be reckoned with. It was during this time that she found out that children were involved in prostitution and pornography. She began to give each child she engaged a safe place to live, which turned into helping over 250 children. Word of her work got back to the White House where President Reagan got involved to help. However, bets were taken by some over whether she would be killed by pimps or the crooked police. Hugh Hefner, of Playboy magazine, stepped in to help Lee set up a nonprofit corporation. Instead of being at risk, Lee became the founder of the first, and still thriving, “Children of the Night” program. To date. Children of the Night has helped over 10,000 youth. Lee’s work and life has been featured on 60 minutes, a 1985 CBS Movie of the Week, and a 1989 song by Richard Marx called “Children of the Night”. She won the prestigious Volunteer Action Award presented to her in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan. To date, Lee’s organization has raised over 50 million dollars in private donations. She gives advice to anti-trafficking advocates around the world.
Read MoreNot being culturally educated and sensitive is like telling your client that their history of oppression, experiences, traditions, and values they hold sacred, aren’t important to you or the helping process. When that happens, one of the two parties are ignorant to the healing power of culture and how to use it as a strength and tool in the helping process. Cultural ignorance is unconsciously destructive and translates into misunderstandings that create barriers to the helping process. This episode is devoted to the opportunity to be effective and stay woke.
Read MoreEver thought of publishing an article in a journal, but didn’t know how to go about it? Ever heard of a double-blind review? Want to be an article reviewer for a journal? Meet Editor-in-Chief Dr. Rochelle Dalla, who understands both the difficulty and the richness in studying and working with hard-to-reach populations. She honors that sentiment through her own past research with Native Americans, women in street prostitution, and more recently with sex trafficked women in Mumbai. She also serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the international Journal of Human Trafficking, where key human trafficking research is published. She discusses the Journal of Human Trafficking, how she developed it, and how she and editors work with authors to get their article up to publishable quality. This episode is for anyone who has ever thought of publishing their work and who are brave enough to seize the opportunities in front of them to make great contributions to the field of anti-trafficking work.
Read MoreThis episode focuses on the numerous protests in the U.S. surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement and discusses the importance of protest, and what and why they are happening. In addition, the episode focuses on why anti-trafficking advocates don’t typically use protest as a form of intervention and why it might eventually become inevitable.
Read MoreThere are five common questions and associated fears that anti-trafficking advocates have about the work they do. These fears lead to significant barriers that serve to block our progress and speak to the heart of the problems in the movement. In this episode these fears are exposed, discussed, and potential solutions provided.
Read MoreThis week we are set to reach 10,000 Emancipation Nation Podcast downloads! I celebrate by sharing some little known facts about myself, how the podcast started, and reveal the exciting new and free Emancipation Nation Network, an online network and downloadable app developed just for you to connect with other advocates across the U.S. and around the world. On the Network you'll find human trafficking focused topics, groups, jobs, grants, research, and over 250 anti-trafficking advocates to connect with on various levels. In addition, find online workshops and courses designed to train you on specifically what you want to learn! Our goal is to populate the Network with great advocates and with those who want to be great advocates, so invite people you know that are passionate about the work! https://members.emancipationnationnetwork.com
Read MorePatrick Atkison, the founder of Godschild.org, an organization that helps thousands of children in poverty in El Salvador, Gutamala, India, and more. Started by Patrick, who while in college volunteered on a crisis line to meet college girls who also volunteered. There he did find the love of his life, which was the love of helping children. Enjoy the conclusion of Patrick Atkinson's career that spans across continents to help some of the most vulnerable children in the world. Patrick takes on the challenges that are in front of him and becomes bold enough to use his voice, brave enough to listen to his heart, and and strong enough to live his life in the service of others.
Read MoreWhile in college, preparing for the world of work, Patrick Atkinson volunteered to answer phones to help people in crisis. Little did he know that answering “the call” would lead him to become the world’s emergency room worker, triaging and healing some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Throughout his career, he has taken great risk to his own personal safety to locate runaways in Times Square when it was crawling with drugs, crime, predators, and vulnerable youth. He worked in war torn Guatemala and El Salvador, entering dangerous territory to rescue children and house them in his orphanage, allowing them to grieve, work through trauma, and experience love and feel safe again. He now works on the issue of trafficking, exploited, and missing persons to help all children understand that love and safety is a right, not a privilege. Patrick is the author of seven books. He discusses his powerful story and development of his two organizations that still work to serve children: GodsChild.org and ITEMP.org He continues to serve as father and positive role model to countless children around the world.
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