The End It Movement to arrive at SFA

On March 5, for 27 hours students all around the nation will take a stand against slavery, which, possibly surprisingly, is still a prominent and very real problem even now.

The End It Movement: Shine a Light on Slavery, is a movement which is calling for a drastic reform to end the containment, use and the abuse of the over 27 million slaves in about 161 different countries today, including the United States. These numbers are in fact higher than ever before in recorded history. This slavery includes bondage, child laborers and sex trafficking, which take place all over the world. In fact, sex trafficking is a huge issue even in the city of Houston. Eighty percent of all human trafficking victims are women. In the city of Atlanta alone, an estimated 5,000 females annually are raped and sold for profit. Roughly 17,500 people annually are trafficked in the United States, and the average age of the victim is 14 years old. Over one million children become victims to slavery each year, with four being sold into slavery every 120 seconds. About 200,000 slaves work in the USA.

The Declaration of Independence reads, “all men are created equal,” and that, by their Creator, they are endowed with certain “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The victims of slavery are being deprived of things guaranteed by one of the founding principles of the US.

It costs a slave buyer $90 to purchase each victim. Statistics like this, and more, may be found on www.enditmomement.com, which works for the abolition of slavery, and where people can sign a pledge to end slavery. Another website with information about slavery is www.slaveryfootprint.com, where people can answer a few simple questions based on their lifestyle to find out how many slaves it took them to get what they own now. 

The End It Movement encourages people to stand up to slavery, be it March 5 nation-wide, or anonymously and discreetly.

 szavorka@thepinelog.