A Woman. A Prostitute. A Slave.

Americans tend to associate “modern slavery” with illiterate girls in India or Cambodia. Yet there I was the other day, interviewing a college graduate who says she spent three years terrorized by pimps in a brothel in Midtown Manhattan.

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Nicholas D. Kristof

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• Times Topic: Prostitution

Those who think that commercial sex in this country is invariably voluntary — and especially men who pay for sex — should listen to her story. The men buying her services all mistakenly assumed that she was working of her own volition, she says.

Yumi Li (a nickname) grew up in a Korean area of northeastern China. After university, she became an accountant, but, restless and ambitious, she yearned to go abroad.

So she accepted an offer from a female jobs agent to be smuggled to New York and take up a job using her accounting skills and paying $5,000 a month. Yumi’s relatives had to sign documents pledging their homes as collateral if she did not pay back the $50,000 smugglers’ fee from her earnings.

Yumi set off for America with a fake South Korean passport. On arrival in New York, however, Yumi was ordered to work in a brothel.

“When they first mentioned prostitution, I thought I would go crazy,” Yumi told me. “I was thinking, ‘how can this happen to someone like me who is college-educated?’ ” Her voice trailed off, and she added: “I wanted to die.”

She says that the four men who ran the smuggling operation — all Chinese or South Koreans — took her into their office on 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan. They beat her with their fists (but did not hit her in the face, for that might damage her commercial value), gang-raped her and videotaped her naked in humiliating poses. For extra intimidation, they held a gun to her head.

If she continued to resist working as a prostitute, she says they told her, the video would be sent to her relatives and acquaintances back home. Relatives would be told that Yumi was a prostitute, and several of them would lose their homes as well.

Yumi caved. For the next three years, she says, she was one of about 20 Asian prostitutes working out of the office on 36th Street. Some of them worked voluntarily, she says, but others were forced and received no share in the money.

Yumi played her role robotically. On one occasion, Yumi was arrested for prostitution, and she says the police asked her if she had been trafficked.

“I said no,” she recalled. “I was really afraid that if I hinted that I was a victim, the gang would send the video to my family.”

Then one day Yumi’s closest friend in the brothel was handcuffed by a customer, abused and strangled almost to death. Yumi rescued her and took her to the hospital. She said that in her rage, she then confronted the pimps and threatened to go public.

At that point, the gang hurriedly moved offices and changed phone numbers. The pimps never mailed the video or claimed the homes in China; those may have been bluffs all along. As for Yumi and her friend, they found help with Restore NYC, a nonprofit that helps human trafficking victims in the city.

I can’t be sure of elements of Yumi’s story, but it mostly rings true to me and to the social workers who have worked with her. There’s no doubt that while some women come to the United States voluntarily to seek their fortunes in the sex trade, many others are coerced — and still others start out forced but eventually continue voluntarily. And it’s not just foreign women. The worst cases of forced prostitution, especially of children, often involve home-grown teenage runaways.

No one has a clear idea of the scale of the problem, and estimates vary hugely. Some think the problem is getting worse; others believe that Internet services reduce the role of pimps and lead to commercial sex that is more consensual. What is clear is that forced prostitution should be a national scandal. Just this month, authorities indicted 29 people, mostly people of Somali origin from the Minneapolis area, on charges of running a human trafficking ring that allegedly sold many girls into prostitution — one at the age of 12.

There are no silver bullets, but the critical step is for the police and prosecutors to focus more on customers (to reduce demand) and, above all, on pimps. Prostitutes tend to be arrested because they are easy to catch, while pimping is a far harder crime to prosecute. That’s one reason thugs become pimps: It’s hugely profitable and carries less risk than selling drugs or stealing cars. But that can change as state and federal authorities target traffickers rather than their victims.

Nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, it’s time to wipe out the remnants of slavery in this country.

Please support our efforts and attend a fundraiser. Go to https://www.milehighwomensoutreachcenter.org/events.html

Take Action: "The Power of Renting Lacy" A Must Read

In September of 2012, I found myself reading Renting Lacy. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. Despite the warning at the beginning of the book telling me that it has very tough content, I thought I could handle it. I thought to myself, I can do this. This will be a one-sitting book for me. I was confident because my mind is pretty tolerant of tough content. I’m a guy that can watch violent things; rated R movies with violent content are a piece of cake for me, because I have the ability to think and process through what I am seeing. Renting Lacy,however, turned out to be totally different.

After only one chapter of reading, my jaw had dropped, and I was nearly crying. One chapter after that, I found myself in tears, having to put the book down for a while. I couldn’t handle it. I found myself overwhelmed by the fact that Linda was sharing true stories. Unlike graphic rated R films, for the first time my mind could not separate the fake from reality. It was all reality. These brutal situations actually happened to women and children on a daily basis. Several days later, I found myself still reading Renting Lacy. The content was educational, but so shocking to the point that I had to put the book down and process what I read. This sounds like a negative thing, but it isn’t. It is important, especially when reading Renting Lacy, to sit down and process what you’ve read.

Renting Lacy changed my life. What I thought would be a one-sitting read turned into a one week read. Not because of the length of the book, but because of the shock that I had to process through.

Though this book was extremely hard to read through, it was absolutely necessary. I am so happy that I have read the book Renting Lacy, because it was the catalyst for me becoming a Defender and an activist against human trafficking.

Whether you are a current activist, or someone who is just now learning about human trafficking, you need to read this book. It will shock you. Perhaps it will make you cry. It will educate you. But more importantly, it will motivate you. Everyone needs to have a copy of this book, because it changes lives. Go get Renting Lacy NOW.

Renting Lacy is now available in audiobook form. You can get a digital or physical copy of the audiobook here.

Reviewed by Ethan

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When Prison is Freedom from Captivity

Marisol Garcia Bejarano spent seventeen years in prison for a crime she did not commit.  A survivor of human trafficking in Mexico and in California, Marisol witnessed a murder committed by the man who bought her for $200 when she was just thirteen years old. After years of holding her as his domestic servant and sexual slave, he then framed Marisol for his murder, and she went to a California prison for his crime.

To many, such a devastating turn of events may have been cause for depression, anger, and bitterness.  Yet Marisol says that she saw prison as a chance for her dreams to come true.  Finally, she had a chance to learn to read and write, to learn to speak English and acquire basic jobs skills, and to develop a network of friends.  Marisol saw prison as freedom from captivity.

When the Law School of the University of California learned of Marisol’s story and acknowledged her innocence, they initiated a project to release her.  In 2013, seventeen years after her false conviction, Marisol was pardoned by the Governor of California.  She is now a victim’s advocate and house mom at Red Binacional de Corazones, a home for young girls who are also survivors of human trafficking.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Slavery, Human Trafficking

1. Slavery and human trafficking can mean two different things:

Modern-day slavery involves exploiting people, often through forced labor or sex. Human trafficking is when a person is recruited, harbored, provided or obtained for the purposes of exploitation -- often sold as an object. Trafficking victims, two-thirds of whom are women and girls, are recruited by means of threat and are often sent into the sex trade or forced to get involved in manual and servitude work, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

2. There are more slaves around the world today than ever before in history.

Though slavery has been banned across the globe, more than 29 million people are living in slavery, the greatest number in history. Some 15,000 people are being trafficked each year right here in the U.S. for purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation.

And they're working for you. Even if your shelves are lined with fair-trade and locally produced items, there’s a good chance that a number of slaves have contributed to making the food you eat, the clothes you wear and the laptop on which you’re reading this story, according to Slavery Footprint. 

3. Sex trafficking victims are often treated like criminals.

Trafficking laws vary from state to state, with victims often being arrested and treated like criminals, reinforcing their belief that the police can’t be trusted. Advocates are calling for a “Uniform Law,” one that will allow all agencies to properly identify victims, provide rehabilitative services, and prosecute traffickers.

4. Your state could be doing a lot more to put a stop to trafficking.

Mile High Women's Outreach Center, a nonprofit has services to help victims heal from their abuse as a victim. Shared Hope, a nonprofit that works to bring justice to victims of sex trafficking, has graded each state on the way it responds to sex trafficking crimes. Find out how your state ranks and then reach out to your state representative and urge him or her to do more.

5. You support trafficking when you watch porn.

Yes, while some experts say watching porn with your partner could improve your relationship, it could also enable traffickers to exploit their victims. Even if a porn explicitly states that all actors are over 18 and have consented to being filmed, that just may not be true, Yahoo News reported. The trafficked actresses may simply be trained to look and act older.

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Fundraisers and Charity Dinners for Mile High Women's Outreach Center

Mile High Women's Outreach Center is a place where victims can receive restoration services to help them back to a world where they are not in slavery.

At every event, individuals will learn about the issue of sex trafficking here in Colorado. Specifics on how to identify a victim will be a benefit to the patrons of events and the monies raised go back to the center so that more services are available to the victims.

To support Mile High Women's Outreach Center and attend any of our events please go to


 https://www.milehighwomensoutreachcenter.org/events.html


The services offered for victims by Mile High Women's Outreach Center are:

• Behavioral Programming
• Therapy & Counseling for children and adults
• Specialize in victims of sex trafficking & sexual abuse
• Interpersonal Trauma based therapies
• Cognitive Behavioral therapies (Evidence Based)
• EMDR
• GED Services
• Children’s Case Management
• Community Transition Services
• Peer Mentorship
• Transitional Behavioral Health
• Transitional Substance Abuse Counseling Vision
• Community Mental Health Services
• Community Transition Services
• In-Home Support Services and Counseling Services
• Independent Living Skills Training
• Personal Care/Homemaker
• Substance Abuse Counseling
• Supported Living Program
• Transitional Living Program
  
  
  
  We accept Medicaid, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and offer a sliding scale for individuals.  
  
   

From the Streets to the ‘World’s Best Mom’

NASHVILLE — WHEN men paid Shelia Faye Simpkins for sex, they presumably thought she was just a happy hooker engaging in a transaction among consenting adults.

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Shelia Simpkins said that when she was in her 20s and working in the sex industry, she was arrested dozens of times. But her pimps never were.

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Nicholas Kristof

It was actually more complicated than that, as it usually is. Simpkins says that her teenage mom, an alcoholic and drug addict, taught her at age 6 how to perform oral sex on men. “Like a lollipop,” she remembers her mom explaining.

Simpkins finally ran away from home at 14 and into the arms of a pimp.

“I thought he was my boyfriend,” Simpkins remembers. “I didn’t realize I was being pimped.”

When her pimp was shot dead, she was recruited by another, Kenny, who ran a “stable” of four women and assigned each of them a daily quota of $1,000. Anyone who didn’t earn that risked a beating.

There’s a common belief that pimps are business partners of prostitutes, but that’s a complete misunderstanding of the classic relationship. Typically, every dollar earned by the women goes to the pimp, who then doles out drugs, alcohol, clothing and food.

“He gets every penny,” Simpkins explains. “If you get caught with money, you get beat.”

Simpkins periodically ran away from Kenny, but each time he found her — and beat her up with sticks or iron rods. On average, she figures that Kenny beat her up about once a week, and she still carries the scars.

“I was his property,” Simpkins says bluntly.

I met Simpkins here in Nashville, where my wife, Sheryl WuDunn, and I have been filming a segment about sex trafficking as part of a PBS documentary accompanying our next book. We were filming with Ashley Judd, the actress, who lives in the Nashville area and is no neophyte about these issues. Judd has traveled all around the world to understand sexual exploitation — and she was devastated by what we found virtually in her backyard.

“It’s freaking me out,” she told me one day after some particularly harrowing interviews. It’s easier to be numbed by child prostitution abroad, but we came across online prostitution ads in Nashville for “Michelle,” who looked like a young teenager. Judd had trouble sleeping that night, thinking of Michelle being raped in cheap hotels right in her hometown.

In this respect, Nashville is Everytown U.S.A. Sex trafficking is an American universal: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported in 2011 that over a two-year period, trafficking occurred in 85 percent of Tennessee’s counties, including rural areas. Most are homegrown girls like Simpkins who flee troubled homes and end up controlled by pimps.

Of course, there are also women (and men) selling sex voluntarily. But the notion that the sex industry is a playground of freely consenting adults who find pleasure in their work is delusional self-flattery by johns.

Sex trafficking is one of the most severe human rights violations in America today. In some cases, it amounts to a modern form of slavery.

One reason we as a society don’t try harder to uproot it is that it seems hopeless. Yet Simpkins herself is a reminder that we needn’t surrender.

Simpkins says that she would be dead by now if it weren’t for a remarkable initiative by the Rev. Becca Stevens, the Episcopal priest at Vanderbilt University here, to help women escape trafficking and prostitution.

Rev. Stevens had been searching for a way for her congregation to address social justice issues, and she felt a bond with sex trafficking survivors. Rev. Stevens herself had been abused as a girl — by a family friend in her church, beginning when she was 6 years old — and she shared with so many trafficked women the feelings of vulnerability, injustice and anger that go with having been molested.

With donations and volunteers, Rev. Stevens founded a two-year residential program called Magdalene for prostitution survivors who want to overcome addictions and start new lives. To help the women earn a living, Rev. Stevens then started a business, Thistle Farms, which employs dozens of women making products sold on the Internet and in stores like Whole Foods. This year, Thistle Farms has also opened a cafe, employing former prostitutes as baristas.

Shelia Simpkins went through the Magdalene program and overcame her addictions. In December, she will earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology, and then she plans to earn a master’s in social work.

She regularly brings in women off the street who want to follow her in starting over. I met several of Simpkins’ recruits, including a woman who had been prostituted since she was 8 years old and is now bubbling with hope for a new future. Another has left drugs, started a sales job and found a doctor who agreed not to charge her to remove 16 tattoos designating her as her pimp’s property. And a teenage prostitute told me that she’s trying to start over because, “the only person who visited me in jail was Miss Shelia.”

Magdalene and Thistle Farms fill part of what’s needed: residential and work programs for women trying to flee pimps. We also need to see a much greater crackdown on pimps and johns.

Simpkins figures she was arrested about 200 times — and her pimps, never. As for johns, by my back-of-envelope calculations, a john in Nashville has less than a 0.5 percent chance of being arrested. If there were more risk, fewer men would buy sex, and falling demand would force some pimps to find a new line of work.

In short, there are steps we can take that begin to chip away at the problem, but a starting point is greater empathy for women like Simpkins who were propelled into the vortex of the sex trade — and a recognition that the problem isn’t hopeless. To me, Simpkins encapsulates not hopelessness but the remarkable human capacity for resilience.

She has married and has two children, ages 4 and 6. The older one has just been accepted in a gifted program at school, and Simpkins couldn’t be more proud.

“I haven’t done a lot of things right in my life, but this is one thing I’m going to do right,” she said. “I’m going to be the world’s best mom.”

Solicitation of Minors = Child Abuse

“The average age of induction into commercial sex in the United States is 13 years old,” said  Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.). He inferred from that young age that pimps are targeting younger victims compared to the past. They will find customers using the Internet; the most used website is Backpage.com.

This particular website was mentioned numerous times at the hearing and it especially rankles Woolf, who said, “Just last week, a jury convicted an Indiana man for human trafficking. The man forced four women—including a 16-year-old girl—into prostitution.” Wolf next cited the Justice Department’s press release that the man posted photographs of the females on Backpage.com.

Departing from his prepared remarks, Woolf said, “Backpage.com turns up again and again.” The congressman, whose grandchildren include six girls, said rhetorically, “How do the people who own Backpage.com live with themselves?”

Woolf stated in his written testimony that Backpage.com maintains a legitimate and legal function as a location to post online classifieds. At the hearing he said, “Backpage is openly—and in some sense legally—advertising commercial sex. It gives traffickers the opportunity to advertise these services to the general public and advertise essentially our children online.”

Wolf said that he has personally written Attorney General Eric Holder in the last two years to prosecute Backpage.com and similar websites, but the attorney general, Wolf said, has been unresponsive.

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