A connected community is essential to fighting human trafficking, multiple speakers told a crowd of more than 40 on Wednesday evening. People need to keep an eye on their neighborhoods, tell others what they see, and know how to reach agencies that can help.
To close out National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman and nonprofits Wellspring Living and youthSpark sponsored a forum on the issue at the YMCA of Metro Atlanta.
Abdur-Rahman said when she asks people what they know about human trafficking, their information is inaccurate “90% of the time.” Abdur-Rahman’s District 6 covers the county’s south end.
“I personally know situations where someone was going to school with someone who was being trafficked,” she said. “Her trafficker was dropping her off in the morning and picking her up in the afternoon.”
In another case, 10 workers were turning over their entire paychecks to a trafficker every week, she said. Their exploitation was finally exposed thanks to a “nosy neighbor,” Abdur-Rahman said.
District 1 Commissioner Bridget Thorne represents the north end of Fulton County, but said she knows traffickers operate everywhere.
“Trafficking is prevalent up there,” she said.
Legal and social service experts held a panel discussion on the nature of trafficking.
“Trafficking has certainly moved off the streets and online,” said Susan Coppedge, executive director of the Georgia Legal Services Program. It happens to men as well as women, she said.
“It’s not just sex trafficking, it’s labor trafficking now,” Coppedge said. Authorities are investigating a “massive” case in south Georgia right now, in which migrant onion-pickers on work visas are forced to live in poor conditions and are having their pay withheld, she said.
Georgia has historically been ahead of the pack in human trafficking laws, Coppedge said. Now law enforcement is better informed on handling cases appropriately, and public interest has grown, she said.
The portrayal of trafficking in movies and on TV is not accurate, said Chris Keegan from the human trafficking prosecution unit in the Georgia Attorney General’s Office. Today, children are usually convinced or coerced into participating through social media, he said.
Michelle Mitchell of Southeastern Behavioral Health & Counseling said predators seek out the most vulnerable, knowing their desire for relationships and a sense of belonging.
Children in the foster care system are particularly vulnerable, said Earnell Winfrey from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office human trafficking and internet child exploitation unit. In the many trafficking cases she has tried, about 80% of the child victims have a history of contact with the state Division of Family & Children Services, she said.
Panelists said the targets of trafficking should be treated like the victims they are, not criminals. Often they’re forced to commit crimes on behalf of others, Coppedge said.
“There’s not a trafficker out there who doesn’t use the victims he already has for recruitment,” she said.
Traffickers’ methods change constantly, so foes have to keep adapting too, said Jennifer Swain of YouthSpark.
To fortify young people against traffickers’ methods, Mitchell said she teaches them about agency, financial independence, bodily autonomy and consent.
“If you don’t feel like you can say no, it’s probably not consent,” she said.
Conversations about human trafficking have to include discussion of the LGBTQ+ community, Winfrey said. Its members are often handled badly by investigators, leading to loss of cooperation from victims, she said.
Most trafficking victims are women and girls, but men and boys who have been exploited often refuse to talk, Winfrey said. Sensitivity to various demographics is essential for investigators, she said.
Without assigning stigma to any community, data clearly shows that Black and LGBTQ+ youth are the most heavily exploited by traffickers, Swain said.
Wellspring Living CEO Christian Murphy held a “fireside chat” — minus the fire — with Charmaine Dollar, an author and survivor of sex trafficking.
Dollar said her focus is on giving voices to victims, especially those from minorities. They are often afraid to talk, or don’t want to relive their experiences, she said. Dollar said she lacked such an advocate herself.
Even for those who escape, the urge to return to the streets can be strong because that’s the environment victims know, Dollar said.
Murphy said the average age for “entering the life” of exploitation is 14. Dollar, from a troubled family with often absent parents, said she was on the periphery at 16 but was trafficked at age 18. Her sister was trafficked at age 16, and was murdered a decade later, she said.
Dollar said it took her six years to mentally recover after escaping exploitation, and another five to write her book “From Prostitution to Promise.”
Now Dollar is working on the nonprofit Hope Haven Coalition, seeking to build safe houses for victims and connect them with resources, she said.
Suspected exploitation can be reported to Georgia’s 24-hour Human Trafficking Hotline, 866-363-4842.
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