• Slavery: Fortunes from flesh Slavery: Fortunes from flesh By St. Louis Post-Dispatch – February 9, 2005 Americans like to think we closed the books on slavery here in the 1860s, but other forms of it persist around the globe.
• Slavery: Fortunes from flesh
Slavery: Fortunes from flesh
By St. Louis Post-Dispatch – February 9, 2005
Americans like to think we closed the books on slavery here in the 1860s, but other forms of it persist around the globe. Driven largely by the demand for cheap labor and sex, human trafficking generates billions of dollars a year, ranking with arms and drugs among the world’s most profitable illegal businesses.
Post-Dispatch reporter Eun-Kyung Kim recently told the story of dozens of Zambian men and boys lured to the states by a Southern Baptist group in Texas to sing in a cappella gospel choirs. In exchange for making a joyful noise during national tours, the Texas group, TTT: Partners in Education, promised the singers schooling, housing, and money for their parents and new schools in Zambia.
All the promises were false, except the part about the tours, which turned out to be grueling and for which the singers got little or no pay. Some eventually escaped and made their way to St. Louis, where they sought the help of Stephen Burns Kessler, who had seen them perform. Mr. Kessler contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service and helped support the Zambians for four months.
Thanks to Mr. Kessler’s intervention, a Labor Department investigation won a $966,443 civil judgment against TTT in 2000. Unfortunately, the men have yet to see a penny of it; the founder of the religious group, Keith Grimes, is dead and the organization apparently has disbanded.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 promises help and protection for an estimated 20,000 people who are brought to this country through human trafficking, part of about 900,000 victims worldwide. They range from South Asian women and girls forced into prostitution or domestic slavery to unpaid, undocumented Mexican agricultural workers who pick fruit and vegetables for American tables.
It’s one thing to rely on the kindness of strangers, like Mr. Kessler and his generous family. But the problem is bigger than individuals can resolve.
The INS should have money to aid those brought, bought or sold into misery and help them find their way safely home.
