Human trafficking panel raises awareness, inspires action
Less than two weeks after police busted a human trafficking ring the community is raising more awareness.
More than 100 attended a panel about trafficking at Southeast Community College Thursday afternoon.
The panel had advocates from several organizations fighting trafficking, but their messages were the same– that trafficking happens in Lincoln and you can make a difference.
“Human trafficking is real in our city. We don’t like to think that, but it is,” said Paul Yates with I’ve Got a Name.
One Lincoln resident who spoke on the panel knows that all too well.
“I found myself young and vulnerable,” she said. “I had a child, I didn’t know how I was going to pay rent, I was down and out and didn’t have anybody. My friend saw how broken I was and thought she’d ‘help me out’.
She was introduced to an escort service where she was trafficked for eight years.
The goal of the panel was to raise awareness and through that inspire action.
A group of native women are leading by example and taking action in a big way.
They’ve proposed a bill to help fight human trafficking of native women who make up 40 percent of all human trafficking victims.
“It would implement a partnership with the Nebraska State Patrol to require a report about missing and murdered Native American women in Nebraska,” Renee Sansouci, a member of the Omaha Tribe said.
The bill passed committee and is heading to general file.
Sansouci said it means a lot to her because of her own experiences as a child.
“At a young age I was solicited just walking to school, being stopped by men asking if I needed a ride,” she said.
And now her experiences as a mother.
“I’m always telling them never to go anywhere alone,” she said.
Awareness is the first step, that’s why dozens of students and community filed into the panel.
“I’m passionate about the subject and want to know more about it,” Callie Burnham, a student who attended the panel said.
And without that awareness, Yates said there couldn’t be action.
“It’s here that we can make a difference and have a slave free city, have a slave free state,” he said.
To learn more about human trafficking click here:
For a list of warning signs:
