In Our Backyard

Bibliography
Belles, Nita. In Our Backyard: Human Trafficking in America and What We Can Do To Stop It. Read by Nicol Zanzarella. Oasis Audio, 2015.

image from (www.audiobooksync.com)

Summary (from www.audiobooksync.com)

Modern slavery is happening all around you . . . and you can be part of the solution.

Human trafficking is not just something that happens in other countries. Nor is it something that just happens to “other people,” such as runaways or the disenfranchised. Even kids in your own neighborhood can fall victim. But they don’t have to.

Through true stories and expertise from her many years of boots-on-the-ground experience, anti-trafficking expert Nita Belles teaches you everything you need to know about human trafficking in the United States, helping you identify risk factors, take practical steps to keep your loved ones and neighbors safe from predators, and recognize trafficking around you, so that you can help fight it.

My Thoughts
I've studied this topic through United Methodist Women. As much as I didn't want to hear these heartbreaking stories, I felt compelled to keep listening. How can I help if I don't know?  Human trafficking exists in every state and nearly every city. It's "in our backyard." By doing nothing, the slavery continues. We must speak up and try to end it.

The book is ten chapters long, each chapter with a different theme or aspect of trafficking (not all is sexual in nature). The first chapter stopped me. It hit too close to home--a girl who is loved & comes from a "good" family is lured into "dating" older men for money. It made me fearful for my own daughter.

The chapter about restaurant workers made me starting looking at where I eat differently.

Many of the chapters are about human trafficking that is related to sex. For example, one chapter is devoted to the Super Bowl.  There's another chapter discussing why victims stay.

I want to help fight slavery! It is easier to not get involved, but I have to think about my daughter, her friends and the thousands of kids I've taught over the years. Just how many eyes have I looked into without any idea of what kind of life they were leading?

I kept thinking about Ellen Hopkins' novels, especially Tricks. According to Belles, "The US Department of  Justice named Las Vegas as one of 17 most likely destinations for sex trafficking victims." Hopkins' characters often find themselves in Vegas.

It astonished me that the list of sexual perpetrators included EVERYONE--from all walks of life, all levels of education, all salary points.

It was interesting to me to learn about TAT--Truckers Against Trafficking. I really assumed that truckers would be part of the problem, not part of the solution. This reversal of my understanding gives me hope.

How do we stop human trafficking? One "bite at a time"--do something. Each step we take to combat this issue is a step to ending human trafficking!

Now, I will say there were times that I thought the writer was trying to manipulate my emotions and perhaps some details of the stories were simplified or glossed over, but there were other times that the stories were quite graphic.

In the About the Author section at the end of the audio, Belles tell the reader that this book is designed as a "sampling" of human trafficking. Specific organizations are not endorsed, but the author does give some resources, including 1-888-373-7888 or text help to 233-733.