The dark side of the Super Bowl
Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people will be tuning in to Super Bowl XLVIII. Some will be cooking and eating most of the day, while others are either visiting with friends and family or seriously involved in the game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. Although I have some issues with the aggressive nature of lots of sports, it’s really not football itself that I have an issue with tomorrow. It’s with the tens of thousands of sexual slaves who will be trafficked into Denver to meet the “needs” of people attending the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl Sunday is the largest day of human trafficking in the United States. 200 arrests have already been made as pimps, pedophiles and so-called business people traffick in sex slaves for the weekend. And it’s not some unfounded myth as some are claiming; although it is difficult to keep statistics—particularly because human trafficking is a silent crime and its stronghold depends upon the support of law enforcement—there are reports to support the fact, such as the 100,000 women trafficked into the Miami Super Bowl in 2010.
Although the crackdown of law enforcement—as well as the cessation of law enforcement and government agents participation in trafficking itself—is necessary to ultimately stop the fastest growing crime on earth, men can also help decrease the demand by refusing to hire prostitutes. According to experts, the demand continues to increase, only leading to more and more children and women kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery every year.
And human trafficking isn’t something to only worry about during the Super Bowl. According to the Polaris Project, it occurs in every state. Last year alone, they received over 31,000 calls from people reporting human trafficking—and those are only from people who actually saw it happening and were brave enough to report it. The organization took its 100,000th call only days ago and is preparing to fight trafficking on the front lines, not just tomorrow but every day.
What can you do?
Call the hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to report human trafficking or give the number to a victim to help the person obtain freedom.
Click here to read the facts and become more familiar with human trafficking. Be sure to also use and share the action items, like the petitions on the page
Fundraise for groups like the Polaris Project and Free the Slaves
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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