Inconvenient truths of the first world

Those of us native to the first world can easily denounce atrocities like commercial juvenile sex trafficking, condemning those who defile humanity itself and calling for swift change, all the while acting on the premise that these horrors are unique to "less refined" societies.

We are wrong.

According to a 2007 report by Shared Hope International, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, upwards of 300,000 teenage girls are brought into sex trafficking in America annually. 
Annually.  Major sporting events like the Super Bowl are veritable meccas for sex trafficking.

Just last week ABC News ran a story on an American girl's experience being trafficked in an American sex trafficking chain, highlighting what a national problem we have on our hands.  Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, through their DNA Foundation, have launched a "Real Men Don't Buy Girls" campaign to combat this same issue.

Still, a purely national issue may not hit close to home.  Let's consider the state of sexual slavery in a city not too far from many of you.  The following video was produced last year by Teen Identity, an Atlanta-based girls' empowerment organization.

Here are the statistics one more time:

500 girls are trafficked in Atlanta every month.

The average age of an exploited teen in Atlanta is 14.

7,200 men are serviced by girls in Atlanta every month.

100-150 girls are raped for profit each weekend in Atlanta.

The youngest girl known to have been sexually trafficked in Atlanta was 9.

After entering the sex trade, an average teen will last seven years before dying or being killed.

While Atlanta knows a great darkness, a powerful light is at work as well.  To learn more, check out Street GRACE, a Christian organization whose mission is to "create an aligned, powerful, highly-resourced movement of churches united with public, private, and social sectors to bring the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation in Atlanta."  I learned about Street GRACE a few months ago when a swell team from one of its affiliate churches came to visit our office and help conduct a training seminar for state criminal investigators.  These people are doing powerful things without leaving their hometown.  I bet they could use your help.