This Thursday, February 25, 2016 thousands of people will be drawing a red X on their hands for Shine A Light On Slavery Day in support of the End It Movement.
I know it can be hard to believe, but slavery is still a very real thing all over the world, including in America. It shouldn't be, but it is. In fact, it is the second, THE SECOND, largest global organized crime. That's crazy! Especially when you consider how little we actually hear about it.
END IT is a partnership of huge organizations all over the world that are working together to help raise awareness and actively end slavery. The A21 Campaign, The Salvation Army, and World Vision are just some of the organizations involved. Each of the organizations play a different role in putting a stop to slavery.
According to the End It Movement's website, there are three different types of slavery: bonded labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.
Victims are typically born into bonded labor, and are forced to work to repay a loan, which can sometimes be from several generations before.
In forced labor, the victim is forced to do work by being threatened with punishment and given very little pay.
Human trafficking is probably the type of slavery you are most familiar with. Victims are taken from their home, often under false pretenses of a better life, stripped of their identities, and forced to work against their will.
No matter what you want to call it, slavery is slavery. It is a problem and something needs to be done about it.
An easy way you can participate is to help raise awareness. Living in the age of social media makes raising awareness easier than ever. On February 25, 2016 draw a big red X on your hand. Take a picture and post it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and any other social media site you may have to show your support. Use #enditmovement.
Awareness days like this are great and really do a lot to get information out there, but the problem is that most people tend to forget about it. It fills up the internet for one day and is forgotten about until the next year. The families that have lost their child, or their mother, or their brother, or their sister and don’t have the luxury to forget about it after one day. It is on their minds 24/7. It shouldn’t be that easy for us to forget about it. Slavery affects every single one of us because we are all human beings. That is reason enough for us to get involved for longer than just a day.
So yes, I am asking you to participate in Shine A Light On Slavery Day on February 25, 2016, but I am also asking you not to let the issue drift away into oblivion after that. There are so many people trapped in slavery and the number grows every single day. As human beings it is our job, our duty, to do everything we can to help make slavery go away. Change won’t happen until we all get involved for longer than 24 hours.
