During my education years, I learned to use the “scientific method” in reasoning.  During my marriage years, I developed a grudging respect for “feminine intuition.”

On a recent car trip, we were passing thru some no-name place and pulled off the Interstate for gas.  When I got back into the car, my wife asked “Did you see her?”  Like all husbands, I responded with “Huh?”  She pointed to a skinny, young girl, about 18-years-old, sitting on the sidewalk, whom I had barely noticed.  “She’s being trafficked.”  “Huh?”

That began a long discussion about differences between prostitution and sex trafficking, which led to the lecture we attended last night titled “Hiding in Plain Sight.”  The moderator began the discussion with a warning on the importance of facing ugly realities.  I thought about the three museums on the Holocaust that I have visited and felt confident I could handle her “ugly realities.”  But, this is so very, very different!

I readily understood how young girls can be vulnerable and trapped into this “slavery” and become totally dependent upon their sleazy trafficker/pimp/slave master.  In Hampton Roads alone, a girl escapes “trafficking” or slavery every three days, but how many more are lured into it?  Who are they?  I didn’t understand how I could help.

“If you see something, say something” — that doesn’t really make sense to me, as the girls often get arrested for prostitution and thrown into the criminal justice system.  Throwing these girls into jail and then putting them back on the street often does more harm than good.  (If you know the local police have a dedicated program or protocol, then call the police.)  Liberating these girls is truly a job for professionals.  The next time you talk with a police office, ask them how they handle sex trafficking.  Better still, ask your city council members what they can do.  Who else?  What else?

I went to www.safehouseproject.org to learn more about this ugly reality!  You should too!!

And, I donated money! You should too!!!

Please do something to help these innocent girls . . . they need your help . . .

They’re “Hiding in Plain Sight” . . .