The number of human beings held in slavery in the world today exceeds the total during the mid 1800s. They have an active public slave market in Libya. Most of us are aware of immigrants who are captured and sold by coyotes and of Eastern European women and African women and Asian women caught up in sex trafficking. Yet most of us do not think this will touch our families. I don't think we can afford to be very confident about that. A dear friend of mine who was a high profile political candidate had her grandson held as a slave on a Mexican ranch for nearly a year a couple of years ago. This young man had crossed the border into Baja to assist friend who sent him an SOS saying he'd had his money pick=pocketed. However, you don't have to cross the border to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I understand how horrific our nation's past is in regard to slavery. However, I think we should focus on stopping the slave trafficking that is currently entrapping people right now. There is no way to absolve ourselves from the failures of our forefathers. We can, however, do something about how we live now and what we do to ensure that others are treated fairly.
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