These are remarks I delivered last night at Town Hall regarding the prostitution trafficking of our children. Over 700 people packed the hall and heard several presentations from local experts and Deborah Richardson, a national advocate from Atlanta. You can watch video of the entire event here.
Good evening and thank you for coming out tonight for this important discussion.
Wow! Seeing so many of you is very encouraging. Your presence is a powerful statement that Seattle will protect our children. We will not allow the exploitation and horrors of human trafficking to continue in our city.
In the summer of 2008, my first year as a Council member, I read a report that made me angry. It was a city-commissioned study written by Dr. Debra Boyer . . . Dr. Boyer is here with us tonight. The report documented the brutal reality of children being prostituted on our streets, right here in our own backyard.
I resolved right then that the City must do more to stop this terrible, terrible tragedy . . . do more to help rescue our children were being coerced into a horror that is unimaginable. Some of these kids are 12 years old . . . twelve.
In 2002, at the urging of State Representative Velma Veloria, our state became the first to formally address the problem of human trafficking when we established the Washington Taskforce Against the Trafficking of Persons. That same year, our legislature adopted Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles Mail-Order Bride Act; it was another first-in-the-nation response to a serious trafficking issue.
In 2003, Representative Veloria introduced legislation that expanded the definition of criminal profiteering to include human trafficking. Washington became the first state to adopt criminal penalties for human trafficking.
In 2006, legislation from Senator Karen Fraser banned sex tourism in Washington State; we were the second state to do so.
In 2007, the Legislature adopted Senator Kohl-Welles’ proposal that created the new criminal offense of commercial sex abuse of a minor, an act that increased penalties for so-called “johns” or predators who engage in prostitution with a juvenile.
In 2009, legislation proposed by Representative Mary Lou Dickerson’s created the ability for police, prosecutors and the courts to treat prostituted children as crime victims instead of criminal suspects and divert them out of the criminal justice system.
Do you see the pattern here? Debra, Velma, Karen, Jeanne, Mary Lou . . . women standing up and saying “no more.” Look back over the history of social reform in America and you’ll see this same pattern . . . individuals or small groups of people becoming aware of a problem and resolving to do something about it. Women’s suffrage . . . a handful of women changed the nation. Abolition . . . a few standing up and saying “no” to slavery. The Civil Rights movement . . . a few key leaders, then expanding out, gathering momentum every month, year-after-year.
And it’s happening again around this problem of human trafficking. People standing up and saying “this must stop.” The pioneers on this issue include the women in the Washington State legislature.
The Seattle community stood up last year when we lost most of the government funding for The Bridge, the very innovative residential treatment center for prostituted children who have been rescued from the street. When we put out the word that The Bridge would not open for lack of funding, hundreds of people mailed in checks, some for $20, others for $100,000. A few foundations gave generously –including the Women’s Funding Alliance. We raised over one million dollars and The Bridge is open today.
Our police officers are standing up. Seattle’s Vice Unit changed its name to the “Vice and High Risk Victims Unit.” That’s not just packaging either. Our detectives recognize that these kids are truly victims; the criminals are the predators who pimp them and use violence to control them. Our philosophy of policing related to street and Internet prostitution has changed dramatically over the past couple of years.
Other people are standing up. Various organizations, from churches to community groups, are beginning to tackle this issue. It’s a very complicated and difficult issue, for sure. But people are coming together to learn, to design a response, to figure out how to stop the trafficking of children.
Deborah Richardson stood up in Atlanta. She persuaded a juvenile court judge to go with her to see one of the county commissioners. Deborah and the judge described the reality of children and young adult women being prostituted on the streets of Atlanta. They shared the hard, cold, horrific realities of what life is like for these kids. They told about the kidnappings from strip clubs, the beatings, all the graphic details.
The commissioner was Nancy Boxill, and she was speechless. She had no idea what was going on in her own backyard. And then she said something that we all need to hear.
“I didn’t know that this was going on, and I know none of my friends know this is going on. But I do know this, when women in Atlanta learn of this horror, we will stop it, I guarantee you.” Those words sparked a movement.
As I look out at all of you tonight, I want to believe that when the women and men of Seattle learn of this horror, we will stop it, too. Do you agree?
You can watch the Town Hall forum on the Seattle Channel at the following times:
| Upcoming Broadcast Times: | |
| Saturday, January 22, 2011 | 11:00 a.m. |
| Sunday, January 23, 2011 | 9:00 a.m. |
| Monday, January 24, 2011 | 3:00 a.m. |
| Monday, January 24, 2011 | 10:00 p.m. |
| Wednesday, January 26, 2011 | 9:00 p.m. |
| Thursday, January 27, 2011 | 9:30 a.m. |
| Friday, January 28, 2011 | 5:00 a.m. |