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ENC 1102: English Composition II

25 May 2023

Major Assignment 1: Solution to Modern Slavery

Slavery, in one form or another, has always existed for as long as human civilizations

have existed. Time and time again, we see this fact as people are reintroduced to the atrocities

brought on by forced labor, and as such we are still looking for methods to fully eradicate the

dehumanizing practice’s presence. It is estimated that there are at least 50,000 slaves and

growing in the United States alone (Bales and Soodalter 7). In “The Slave Next Door”, a book

published by professors Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter, a plethora of solutions to this human

rights crisis are proposed. One such solution entails educating law enforcement about modern

day slavery, which, in turn, will allow them to notice the signs and act accordingly.

All slaves in the United States belong to two distinct groups: immigrants trafficked into

the country and U.S. citizens forced into slavery. Most of the former group “come [to America]

hoping to start new and better lives… inspired by desperation, courage, and determination”

(Bales and Soodalter 14). In the majority of these trafficking cases, these slaves are offered jobs

providing enough money to support their families back home, comfortable living situations, and

the chance at a better life in America by their traffickers, who are oftentimes family, friends, or

members of the slave’s community (78). Once they have been taken far enough, “the hammer

comes down and [the slaves] realize they are enslaved” (Bales, 06:14 – 06:17). The trafficker

reveals their true colors, using shock and violence to ensure complete obedience from the

captive. Many victims comprising the latter group, on the other hand, tend to find themselves

falling into slavery through “deception or sheer violence” (Bales and Soodalter 15). Through
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kidnapping, coercion, or false promises, these victims are also taken into these dehumanizing,

abusive environments.

In order to get slaves out of those horrifying situations, we, as people need to be educated

on the signs of human trafficking so that we can point it out when we see it. Groups tasked with

upholding public security especially, such as law enforcement, need to know the tell-tale signs in

order to appropriately deal with these situations. For example, on May 13, 2007, a distressed

Indonesian woman wearing only pants and a towel was found and later questioned by police,

who then went back to her owners’ home and arrested them for trafficking her. In many instances

like this, victims like the woman end up institutionalized, arrested or returned to their abusers,

however due to an officer’s homemade video about human trafficking, the police noticed the

signs and freed the woman (Bales and Soodalter 34).

This case stood out, not only due to how the woman was treated as opposed to other

American citizens in her situation, it stood out in comparison to how other foreign slaves in her

position are treated. There is a vast divide in how foreign slaves are handled in the United States

in comparison to native-born slaves. In “The Slave Next Door”, Bales and Soodalter quote the

U.S. attorney for Connecticut at the time, Kevin O’Connor, stating that cases of domestic

trafficking victims are “not about immigration and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]

is not involved. There are no issues involving the threat of deportation” (80). That extra threat of

deportation is often dangled above the heads of these immigrant trafficking victims, isolating

them not only from the new communities they find around them, but from the only people who

have the power to help them out of their situation. If law enforcement is educated on situations

like this and new policies put in place in order to protect victims of trafficking, domestic or
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otherwise, we can ensure that these slaves are freed and that those threats are reduced to nothing

more than that – threats.

A large demographic of domestic slaves also has their own fair share of maltreatments to

deal with as well. In many instances of human trafficking, both domestic and foreign, victims are

made to do illegal acts such as prostitution. Day in and day out, these slaves are serially beaten

and raped due to the nature of the new “occupation” they find themselves working. Anti-

trafficking advocate Rachel Lloyd states in “The Slave Next Door” that “most cops are ignorant

and prejudiced on the issue… police will approach [sex trafficking situations] with the attitude

‘Well, she’s not chained to the bed’” (96). Former Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

(CATW) co-director, Dorchen Leidholdt then expounds on this point, stating that “the victims are

treated as criminals. If they’re not seeing bruises…, overt fear, indicia of ‘force, fraud and

coercion plus,’ then it’s not human trafficking” (96). Police need to be educated on signs of abuse

like this, not only in human trafficking cases, but in all cases where abuse like this happens so

that they can give victims the justice that they deserve.

In order to properly educate law enforcement on these matters, however, proper funding

must go into these human trafficking education programs. As it stands right now, these programs

and departments do not get the necessary funding to be effective in combatting human trafficking

in the United States. For example, ICE is “charged with stopping slave-made goods flowing into

the United States…, but then they are given so few agents to [determine what goods come from

slave labor and what do not] that they cannot begin to investigate any more than a tiny fraction of

possible cases” (Bales and Soodalter 266). If we want to start effectively fighting against modern

slavery, we need to begin that fight with the proper funds.

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We need to ensure, however, that this funding comes from the proper place. As it stands

now, “assets seized from convicted traffickers go into law enforcement’s budget, not into helping

the slaves rebuild their lives” (Bales and Soodalter 264). The money required to create these

antislavery programs needs to come from somewhere, but we will only continue the injustice

faced by trafficked victims if we use their compensation as law enforcements’ payment. Whether

they come from increased monetary contribution from the public, or from relocated funds from

other programs, the proper resources must be given to these programs in order to help the victims

of modern-day slavery without taking from them what is rightfully theirs.

Slavery, as it stands now, is a complex issue wrought with nuances that make eradicating

it a tedious process. Its elimination requires the collective effort of numerous groups of people

working together to combat individual aspects of this multifaceted crime. Educating law

enforcement on how they should approach a crime like this is only one proposal amongst the sea

of ideas offered to combat the injustice faced by so many people around the world today.

Proposal, however, is the first step in reaching a solution to an issue such as this. By refining

these ideas, we can produce a solution to modern slavery, no matter how deeply ingrained it is in

society today. (1168 words)

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Works Cited

Bales, Kevin. “Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery.” YouTube, uploaded by TED, 29

March 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUM2rCIUdeI.

Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in

America Today. University of California Press, 2010.