On March 21, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy gave a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Only five days into his presidential campaign, Bobby Kennedy spoke in front of hundreds of students on the subject of dissent. The 1960’s being the tumultuous times they were, dissent was a common theme growing with the people who saw far too many injustices being committed in America and a society unwilling to face its own demons.
In the speech, he said:
There are millions of Americans living in hidden places, whose faces and names we never know. But I have seen children starving in Mississippi, idling their lives away in the ghetto, living without hope or future amid the despair on Indian reservations, with no jobs and little hope. I have seen proud men in the hills of the Appalachia, who only wish to work in dignity—but the mines are closed, and the jobs are gone and no one, neither industry or labor or government, has cared enough to help. Those conditions will change, those children will live, only if we dissent. So I dissent, and I know you do too.
Throughout the ages, the truly great moments of history can be attributed to dissent. Martin Luther dissented from the Catholic Church when he posted his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg in 1546 and opened the flood gate of religious independence. The Founding Fathers of the United States dissented from Great Britain and founded our nation. Eugene McCarthy stood up against the Vietnam War and LBJ, leading to his 1968 Democratic primary candidacy against Republican Richard Nixon.
Dissent develops democracy.
So why is it that we have been so silent to the atrocities of human trafficking being committed on the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands? As we speak, there are literally dozens and dozens of women and children that have been smuggled into the Mariana Islands to work in the now-infamous sweatshops and the "karaoke clubs" that double as prostitution dens. Of the countless Chinese, Bangladeshi, Thai and Vietnamese trafficking victims, only 40 of them got help from the social services group Guma’ Esperansa over the last 3 years.
Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world, victimizing thousands of people and reaping billions in profits. Trafficking is considered one of the most urgent human rights issues in the world today. Victims are trafficked into the international sex trade and into forced labor situations throughout the world. Many of these victims are lured from their homes with false promises of well-paying jobs; instead, they are forced or coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, farm or factory labor or other types of forced labor.
Traffickers use a variety of techniques to control their victims. Traffickers use the elements of force, fraud and coercion to press victims into lives of servitude and abuse. Force: Rape, beatings, confinement. Fraud: False offers of employment and promised wages, marriage, a better life. Coercion: Threats, debt-bondage, psychological abuse.
Who is trafficked?
Men, women, and children are all trafficked. They all share some common denominators: most are poor and desperate to make ends meet; men and women fall victims to traffickers in search of work to feed their families; children are victimized because they have been tricked by others to think that they might find a better life; children are often trafficked in order to become the "bread winners" for the rest of the family left behind.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Trust Territory, is not immune to the modern day form of slavery known as human trafficking. These idyllic tropical islands have seen several trials over the last several months of women who were brought to the Mariana Islands and forced into prostitution by their traffickers. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is considered by some to be a "hot spot" of human trafficking in the international community. Perhaps this is due to the CNMI’s proximity to Asia and/or the fact that the Commonwealth has its own immigration laws that were designed to benefit the sweatshops themselves. Regardless as to the reasons, the fact remains that there are victims of human trafficking in the Commonwealth right now who are waiting for a generous person to come their way to rescue them.
Although the crime of human trafficking is not new in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, what is new is that the Fourteenth CNMI legislature passed the Anti-Trafficking Act of 2005, which became Public Law 14-88 when signed into law on September 23, 2005. Public Law 14-88 prohibits involuntary servitude, human trafficking for involuntary servitude, sexual servitude of a minor and transporting a person for the purposes of prostitution; and to establish criminal penalties therefore; and for other purposes. Unfortunately what Public Law 14-88 did not do was to provide resources for law enforcement or social services providers to assist identified victims of human trafficking within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is one of only 26 states or territories in the United States to have passed its own state anti-human trafficking law.
Through Karidat’s Guma’ Esperansa, limited resources have been allocated to help aid the victims on human trafficking on the Mariana Islands. And a lot of good has come from the local community in its support of helping these women and children: Duty Free Shoppers Limited provides free drinking water. There is a network of local women who donate used clothing and household items to the shelter on an almost weekly basis. A donation from the Commonwealth Football league pays for such things as copies of legal documents, medicine, and pizza for children’s birthday parties while in the shelter. The Saipan Mayor’s Office delivers city water to the shelter when water storage tanks are empty. Area schools both public and private have designated annual canned food drives to Guma’ Esperansa.
But even though a little attention has been paid to the victims of human trafficking in the CNMI, there are still possibly hundreds of victims that still have not received help. The US government hasn’t been doing enough to help these victims. The Commonwealth has done little besides prosecute employers and deport the victims. Labor unions here stateside have done practically nothing to bring justice to the islands.
On June 28th, the United States Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources will hear testimony from the Mariana Islands’ Governor Benigno R. Fitial regarding S.1634. This bill has only been co-sponsored by three senators: Daniel Akaka (D) of Hawaii, Maria Catwell (D) of Washington, and Lisa Murkowski (R) of Alaska.
If dissent develops democracy, what are we saying to the world when we can’t take care of the problems on the Marianas? This is a stain on the American flag that we need to clean up. We need to stand up and dissent with the common belief that "business as usual" will work in the end.
So here’s what we’re going to do. Every day next week, we are going to send emails to our elected Representatives and senators, urging them to look into finding proactive ways to combat human trafficking and sex slavery. The House and the Senate all have email contacts... it’s a fast and easy way to let our elected officials know that we are tired of seeing these beautiful islands get scarred by a crime that just doesn’t belong in the 21st Century. It doesn’t matter if the politician in your district or state is a Republican or a Democrat. This issue is not about left vs. right, but right vs. wrong.
There are so many things today we could be dissenters on. But imagine how much stronger our nation will be when we finally start cleaning up our own house starting with the Mariana Islands?
If you decide to send a message to your representative and receive a reply, please email the response to info@ripplesofhope.org, as we would like to hear about what Congress is planning to do to solve this crisis.