Today I went into Philadelphia with my aunt, her niece and nephew, my sister, my nephews and my niece.
I used to be the person who wanted them to be independent. I never wanted the kids to be afraid to walk alone into the bathroom. I wanted them to be open to new people.
Over the past week or two, as I’ve been learning more about human trafficking and children being kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery, I find myself keeping the kids much closer to me. I find myself suspicious of people, especially men, who are trying to be nice to the kids.
300,000 kids go missing in the US every year. 300,000. That’s about 822 kids every day; 34 per hour; 1 every two minutes.
Why is the media only reporting on that one kid in Florida? What about the other 147,960 that have gone missing in the six months that she’s been missing? Why doesn’t the media care about all of the kids that are missing? That is a huge chunk of the next generation that is being snatched up and exploited. Who will be the voice for these children?
Where is the justice for these children, and for their families? Do we not care because so many of them are from lower income families? Does that Amber Alert thing even work? Why does our society look the other way?
I have more questions than will ever be answered in my lifetime. At the same time, I fear that the answers I find will break me.
Deneen White 