Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
It’s time for Milwaukee to challenge some of its preconceived notions about human sex trafficking and especially as it relates to children.
For many of us, human trafficking is perceived to be a problem confined to faraway countries and only the most crime-ridden American cities, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Milwaukee is now experiencing a surge in the number of cases where the average age of children being groomed and sold for sex is 13 – yes, that’s right, an incomprehensible 13 years old.
Consequently, it’s imperative that parents and children need to know more about the issue and what they can do to prevent it.
Especially in the summer, when kids are unsupervised and most vulnerable to being targeted by traffickers.
Here are some frightening human trafficking facts to consider:
• An estimated 300,000 children become victims of sex trafficking every year.
• The average age of a girl is groomed and sold for sex is 13.
• Most children come from ‘normal’ homes and go to school regularly.
• Pimps are kidnapping or coercing children right off the street in almost every major city in the U.S. He/She may also be someone you know.
• The prostituted child is brainwashed into believing they are worthless and that nobody will want them anymore.
This makes the child extremely afraid to flee or run from the abductor.
• Child sex trafficking is an organized crime operation that generates a billion dollars year using sites like Craiglist, Backpage and Red Book to do business sell children to local and overseas pedophiles daily.
Moreover, Milwaukee is not immune from this depraved and sinister practice.
This begs the question: What is the face of human sex trafficking in Milwaukee?
• 92% of youth trafficked in Milwaukee are female. Most contract STDs that can damage their reproductive systems, making human sex trafficking a problem that produces generations of victims.
• 78% of youth bought and sold by human traffickers in Milwaukee are African-American.
• 79% of human trafficking cases reported in Wisconsin occur in the City of Milwaukee. Truth be told, human sex trafficking is the 500-pound gorilla in our city and state.
No one should (or deserves) to be enslaved by someone else, and especially not our children.
It’s time to put away our preconceived notions on this subject; it’s time for all of us to step up.