Bondage

During my descent into the Christian Dominionist ethos, I stumbled upon their belief that perhaps we should reinstate slavery here in the US. Like the good bleeding-heart liberal that I am, I found this prospect horrifying and have been expressing my dismay with virtual anyone who has the patience to indulge me. My brother, God bless him, pointed out that I was assuming that slavery had ended and that I assumed we (meaning the USA) didn't actively engage in slavery. Both of these assumptions are false. As one site so stingly notes: Slavery occurs in every continent in the world except Antarctica.

Slavery is alive and well in the world and in our communities here at home, and lest anyone else has forgotten, I would like to take a moment to bear witness to my sisters and brothers in bondage. So here's my first stab at it.

There are currently more slaves today then at any time in human history (or at least there are more reported slaves nowadays). Slavery is often divided into four main types: chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced labor, sex slavery. Chattel slavery is what we often think of, as it is closest to what we had in force here in the states with the African slaves. But as we often forget, it is not the only type. To be clear, the most common form of slavery today is actually debt bondage, in which a person does labor (of whatever sort their master wishes) to pay of a loan or debt. But it doesn't end there. Slavery includes forced marriages, especially of young children, to relieve debt or gain favor. And then there are the civilians in war-torn areas, who often find themselves cast into sMany victims of the war in the Congo are forced into slavery by the competing factions, forced under threat of death or dismemberment to work in mineral mines. And we should never forget those who lost limbs and lives slaving in the diamond trade in Sierra Leone. In the USA, there are at least 10,000 slaves working on any given day. In 2004, the Department of Justice reported that"14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked annually into the United States, and 600,000 to 800,000 are trafficked globally."

Not surprisingly--children and women bear the brunt of slavery, being already marginalized and expendable in many cultures. They (or rather "we", depending on who you are) are especially vulnerable to sex slavery, and young virgin girls are particularly slave-worthy. Women comprise about 80% of the slave trade, with 70% of us being sold into the sex trade. One article reported the following:

In Toronto, a case of a pre-teenage girl auctioned to the highest bidder. What made her so special was that she was a virgin.

In Toronto, a 13 year old girl was sold for 3,000 dollars to two young men, 18 and 20 years old. The girl was raped when the men drove her from Toronto to San Diego.

Another 13 year old virgin girl from Mexico was sold in the United States and raped 35 times.

A young Bulgarian girl, also of pre-teen age, was bought by a man old enough to be her grandfather, was forced to have sex 15 times the first day.

I'll admit, I take these types of stories particularly hard. I remember being 13. I have a niece who is 10. The terror and helplessness of this - I cannot stomach it.

But it's a story as old as time itself. Heck - it's in the Bible. Judges 19 has a nice little story about a concubine being repeatedly "abused" over the course of the night by the village folk. She's dumped at the house where her master, who willingly gave her to them to save his own skin, is staying. He later cuts her up into 12 pieces and scatters her remains across the land. [Interesting aside: in scripture, lawful wives were sometimes called concubines, so it may have been his wife that he gave up and later hacked into pieces. Chew on that one for a while.] Sadly, we haven't learned much since then. Bodies are still exchanged, ravaged, and slaughtered. People are still commodities.

Modern day slavery is another case where the sheer enormity of the offense makes it almost incomprehensible. As in so many situations of pure depravity, those among us who are even slightly aware of the problem feel unable to confront it, politically, emotionally, or spiritually. It's sad that we still need to have organizations to end slavery, but luckily they exist. As time permits, I will investigate them and suggest ones that are most active, most efficient, and most deserving of assistance. For now, if you do nothing else, consider signing this petition.