Modern Day Slavery

Our unit was called Civil War to Civil Rights in which we learnt a lot about the 17th to 18th century slavery in America. One activity we did was mimicking the process of cotton picking and the punishments that followed if you didn't clean enough cotton. This task helped me understand the realities of slavery and the inhumane treatment that came with it. For example, slaves would have to work through the hot summer days from dusk to dawn trying to pick at least 200 pounds of cotton, they barely had anything to wear, they were only addressed by the Christian name their master gave them, and if they even picked a couple pounds less of cotton the overseer would be sure to have them whipped.

Also we moved on from the 1700s and 1800s slavery we started to learn about modern day slavery, and in my opinion modern day slavery was just as bad or maybe even worse that the old slavery. In the high school there was a photo gallery depicting examples of modern day slavery that made me feel horrible. One painting in the photo gallery that really struck me was of a little girl who was beaten and then put into a bath tub filled with hot water and cut chiles. I don't think that anyone of us could relate with the pain she must've felt. After seeing this picture I was furious- how could anyone beat an innocent, naive, little girl and then to make things even worse stick her into a bath tub filled with excruciating pain? What did the little girl do that was so terrible that she deserved to be treated like this? Didn't her master have a heart, how could he/she just stand there and watch?

As we were learning more about modern day slavery, I came across the story of a man named Miguel whose son got cancer, but he couldn't pay for the medical attention off the salary he was earning in Mexico so he decided to go to the U.S. Unfortunately, he didn't have the cash to pay for his journey to America so he accepted an offer to get a ride "now" and pay "later". Miguel was then enslaved in the orange groves of Florida. As an enslaved human being, Miguel and his other fellow workers were threatened with violence every day. Miguel's form of slavery bonded slavery. From the moment he agreed to get on the ride to Florida, Miguel was charged with fees for everything- food, water, shelter, etc. Adding everything up you would find that Miguel would really never be able to pay his debt, and so would probably forever be enslaved in the orange groves of Florida. 

One solution to modern day slavery around the world is being a conscious buyer. Before you buy something, ask the people selling the product questions and find out if it was made by slaves. You can also boycott companies and products that rely in slavery. Or maybe even organize a fundraiser that helps raise and donate money to anti trafficking foundations or any other foundations that are trying to put an end to slavery. You could also start or sign a petition that asks governments to crack down on companies and cases of slavery with more authority. Even calling a hotline might do the trick. Anyone can call 1-888-373-7888 or 1-866-347-2423 (The National Human Resource Center and the U.S. department of Homeland Security) to report a human trafficking case or suspicious behavior on the topic. Lastly, governments should cancel some debts for people eligible for people eligible for welfare, gross and net income, size of the family, any crisis situations such as medical emergencies, pregnancy, homelessness or unemployment. For example, in Croatia the government made with major local banks leading telecom operators, the four biggest Croatian cities and several public utility companies, will cancel the debt of about 60,000 of Croatia's poorest citizens. I feel that governments cancelling the debts of people who are struggling financially will help eliminate people getting enslaved into bonded slavery.