JACKSON, Tenn. — One local college has welcomed anti-human trafficking organizations and speakers to their campus to speak about their missions and research.
“The unfortunate reality is that human trafficking is the second largest criminal enterprise, right now, in the world. It’s right underneath drug trafficking and the reason for that being because, with drug trafficking, you can sell a pill once but with human trafficking you can sell a person over and over again,” said Ashlee Allison, marketing and special events coordinator for the Scarlet Rope Project.
Members of the the Scarlet Rope Project and U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, were able to speak at Friday night’s ‘Human Trafficking Raising Awareness’ event at Union University.
This problem is affecting men, women and children of all ages and is happening right in our backyard.
“These buyers can be coaches, they can be your friendly neighbor. It can be anyone along those lines, so staying diligent about what people in your community are doing is really important. All three parties are equally important in understanding human trafficking,” said Allison.
Speaker of the night and CEO of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, Kevin Malone, shares that prayers, rescue and restoration, and reaching out to elected leaders can help end sex and human trafficking.
“Let them know that you care about this issue and you want something done about it, and go to the school principal — school superintendents and encourage them to make sure that some sort of curriculum is being taught to kids to know what grooming looks like — to know what human trafficking looks like,” said Malone.
The Scarlet Rope Project is providing victims with the resources they need to better themselves right here in the Hub City.
“Really providing them wrap around services so when they enter society again — outside of our program — they’re ready to go and they are equipped with what they need to not have to fall back into that life of trafficking,” said Allison.
Malone also shared he was honored to speak at Union University’s chapel Friday.
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