Super Bowl Sunday is not-so-super for a lot of people.
"The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
From the Abolitionist blog:
During the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, the Florida State Department of Children and Families took in 24 minors who had been trafficked to the Tampa area as Sex Slaves for the Super Bowl. These were just the ones that were found.
In 2010. the Women's Funding Network found an increase of 80% in Craigslist sex ads during the Super Bowl. Craigslist recently shut down their "Adult Services" section after receiving over 10,000 petition signatures from the public and pressure from a number of State Attorney Generals.
Although no one knows exactly how many people will be trafficked to North Texas for the Super Bowl in February 2011, anti-trafficking organizations estimate it will be in the thousands.
This is partially due to the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that over 14,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year and 25% of all trafficked persons come through Texas.
Didn't know human trafficking was such a problem? Consider this: there are more slaves in the world today than were extracted from Africa during 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade. More than 25 million human beings are slaves in 2007. They are not slaves in a metaphorical sense. They are held in forced servitude by other human beings. (Source: Christianity Today.)
While you are rooting for your team and chowing on your chips and queso, please take some time to pray. And read from some of the links provided and find out if there is a way you can help in today's abolitionist movement.
The following video highlights another sporting event, The World Cup. Although a different country and a different event, the reality is profound:
4 comments:
Thank you for your blog. I hadn't seen this video. It brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves.
Wow. :(
My God in heaven, have mercy on us. Thank you for bringing this out into the light of day, Daja. I had no idea. We're not SuperBowl fans but still... we've watched when a team close to us has been in the game. No more.
:-(
"Get up. Cry out as the night begins. Tell the Lord all of your troubles. Lift up your hands to Him. Pray that the lives of your children will be spared."
~Lamentations 2:19
I also had not seen this video. Sigh. Thank you for sharing it. So overwhelmingly sad.
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