I read Mark's post about the rape kit backlog and searched for information on the situation here in Oregon. I was only able to locate information for 2003. Apparently it's not as bad as the circumstances in CA; our state's backlog is 10 weeks according to this report. The next step is to contact my Congresspeople, as Mark suggests and let them know this is on my mind, that I am outraged. I suppose this will make a difference, assuming others will also write about their outrage. But I have a feeling it may not and this saddens me.
I search on, find other blogs that focus on human rights abuses around the world and am reminded that for me the very worst crime is sex slavery of children. I will never forget the night I read a story in the NY Times Magazine that opened my eyes ~ I had no idea this was happening in our world, I am naive and obviously protected. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that night, wondering what I could do to stop this depravity, wanting to run to the border to rescue children. The next day I went to work as usual, though I've never been the same.
Two posts on Diane Beeler's It Dawned on Me blog that caught my attention and expressed so many critical concerns:
It Dawned On Me
What Price for the Sale of a Child?
I cannot compare my life to the lives of these deeply wounded children, women and men who have been abused physically and mentally, tortured by their captors to the point where neither the victim's freedom nor their captor's incarceration can erase the scars and fear that lingers on in the victims. So many simply report that they are now "dead".
But I am also a slave of my own weakness. Not knowing if there's a way to truly help, I do little to fight any of this. I have a million reasons why other tasks take precedence ~ things that propel me forward in life, into happiness. Perhaps it is because this work plunges me into despair that I avoid it.
None of us are free until all of us are free.
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Olga, we seem to care about a lot of the same things. Thanks for the link to my article "What Price for the Sale of a Child?" I, too, am particularly disturbed by child sexual slavery. I just wrote an article about the prevalence of this in India. It is estimated that 1.2 million children are being trafficked as prostitutes in India. Very very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is easy to despair and not want to look at these issues. I suspect that's why we haven't had more attention paid and solutions developed to these enormous problems. I also agree that none of us are free until all of us are free.
Great post. Well said.
Diane Beeler, thank you for your comment! I am truly impressed by your blog (Itdawnedonme) and deeply appreciate your work bringing to light the injustices suffered in our world. I hope many people read your words and are motivated to act.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your courage and commitment to justice, taking a hard look at what we'd rather not know is there and asking us to look too. The crucial first step toward change is to acknowledge that a problem exists.
Thanks again.
One thing we can do, is simply to create a culture (in our own land) where this is not tolerated. I travelled to India in 1986, and met a bunch of guys my age (then 25) at one point. Literally their first question was, "You're from America? How much are prostitutes?"
ReplyDeleteLaws are great, but if the culture is shaped around a crime like this, you're fighting the tide. I told them I had no idea and would never got to a prostitute, of course. I don't imagine I changed any of their behavior, but those are drops of water than build a river, and hopefully -- in the long run -- an ocean.
Thank you, Olga! Mark, probably why they said that to you is because there are so many people from the U.S. who go as sex tourists to these countries. We have culpability in what is happening there too.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Diane. Though most people seemed to think I was a spiritual tourist. No actual pimps or hookers approached me in 5 months there, but I was constantly asked "Are you trying to find your soul?" Both questions offended me, in a mild way, actually.
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