Women and girls take up most of the trafficking victims, but that’s not to say that trafficking is not a real threat for everyone. In fact, there are more slaves today, an estimate of about 3 billion, than in any other time in history. While some people would immediately say that they couldn’t see any reason that this would ever happen, the trafficking industry takes in about $32 billion dollars of yearly profit. In fact, money is primarily the reason for trafficking. Poor families often sell of their young girls to rich family members or brothels in order to make some money. 

Human Trafficking is a real issue for everyone in the world- nearly every country is involved as either a country of origin or destination. Not only that, but also only one person gets convicted for every 800 people trafficked.

So why did I immediately think of human trafficking? Well, many reasons. I’ve already been involved in campaigns to end this horrific occurrence. One of the organizations that I’ve researched, and donated to, is the Not For Sale campaign, which essentially raises awareness and money to save victims of trafficking around the world. However, more recently, my good friends uncle created a movie called “Horse & Rider.” The film was created in partnership with Freedom Firm, which is another organization dedicated to rescuing victims of human trafficking, specifically those of sex trafficked victims in India. The film follows the stories of two girls who were rescued from the trade, and are now in a rehabilitation center. I was asked to sing on the soundtrack for the movie, along with a few other girls, and it was a great experience to get connected and proactive in the fight for the end of human trafficking. I realized that human trafficking is a huge issue across the globe, and no one is safe from it.  

So now we know what human trafficking is, and how big of an issue it is. But how can we help? What can we, as citizens, do? I think it’s also important to think about what has been done already, how far has that gotten us? How much improvement has this cause seen, and how much can it expect to see within the next few years?

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old boy walking back from the store with a hoddie over his head with a Arizona and a bag of skittles in hand. According to the Los Angeles Times, the watchman of their gated community (George Zimmerman) had saw Trayvon looking suspicious. He then approached in the 17-year-old in his vehicle with bad intentions. Zimmerman was also on the phone with 911 at the time and reported that Trayvon looked to be a “real suspicious guy” a “black male” walking around. The police told Zimmerman to back off, but he then took it into his own hands. He approached Trayvon Martin armed, and from there on, they got into a fight. In the end, Trayvon Martin ended up dead, while George Zimmerman had a few cuts and bleed from the back of his head. Zimmerman was charged with 2nd degree murder after several months of investigating. 

 My personal opinion on this case is that it was a racist act of violence. Nowadays, it’s all about the survival of blacks. I agree with the quote Trayvon Martin was killed by a stereotype. George Zimmerman is just the guy who fired the gun. - Leonard Pitts

 Trayvon was un-armed; there was no reason for Zimmerman to shoot. If they got in a physical confirmation that all it should’ve been. If Trayvon was a different skin color, I think the situation would have been different. I feel as though Zimmerman felt over powered and couldn’t beat Trayvon cause he was so much bigger than him that he had to use a weapon. I also think that people shouldn’t be targeted because of their race, but that’s apart of racism. There’s nothing we can do about it. People are going to be racist if they choose to. Trayvon Martin was killed by a stereotype. George Zimmerman is just the guy who fired the gun. - Leonard Pitts

    
The Scene where Trayvon Martin was shot.                                   

    
Trayvon Martin's body being carried to the 
                Funeral home

 
 Million Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin.


                    Trayvon Martin

     
              George Zimmerman                  

Chart depicting Philadelphia Public School District 4th grade national proficiency rating in reading, math, and science compared to other urban districts, and the national average. As you can see, every time, Philadelphia comes up short. Chart can be found here.

​ Many, many, schools and school districts have been labeled as “failing.” Because of this, districts have been privatizing schools, meaning that they place schools under the care or private corporations in the hopes that they will do a “better” job of producing higher test scores than the government can. The concept is extremely controversial because the companies that run the schools are for-profit, and not out to give students and excellent education, but to make money. When I first this, I was confused because prior to this information, I would have thought that the schools would act as a kind of black hole that sucks money and resources, not something that makes money. In actuality though, the corporations get money from the government for running the schools, and are allowed to do with it what they like.

            In Philadelphia, some schools have already been privatized and turned over to Edison Schools Inc (a private for-profit company) and we are at risk of the entire district becoming privatized. There are several factors that are contributing to this, lack of money (The Philadelphia School District has a funding gap of about $269 million according to the local paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer), low test scores, and poor management. The schools that have already become privatized though, have not shown any improvement. 

            Study author Vaughan Bymes says, “By 2006, the achievement gap between the privatized group and the rest of the district was greater than it was before the intervention.” 

  So far, I have collected information about the topic, but I am left with a feeling of wanting more, and confusion. It’s a extremely complex issue, and I have a few questions. These questions include what people are doing about this, and why ar these kind of things happening. 

I'm wondering how anyone could let this happen.

I’m wondering how things could’ve gotten out of control and gotten in such a despairing situation. 

Less than 2,000 have died for us, and we still haven’t done much to repay them and show our appreciation. More will continue to die unless we do something. I’m talking about our U.S. Troops in Afghanistan. In spring of 2010, about 46% of people in a poll supported the war, while 8% strongly supported it. Now after so many deaths of our Troops 60% of people oppose the war, while 40% strongly opposed the war. After our Troops killed the Al Queda leader Osama Bin Laden, many Americans feel this will bring more chance of a terrorist attack against America. Many people have spoken that our Troops being in Afghanistan is harming the countries democracy more than it is helping.