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Lexi Robbins
Dr. Lisa Baird
22 September 2023
COM 122:36
A Pandemic

What is the biggest global crisis in the world today? Would it be covid? War? Climate Change?
All these pales in comparison to slavery. Slavery is a multi-million-dollar business in the United
States alone (Biles and Soodalter, 7). This is everything from forced labor slaves to sex slaves.
Slavery is one of the few things that impact every single country in the world except for
Greenland and Iceland. Even in Greenland and Iceland, there is no way for us to say for certain
there is no slavery, we just simply are unaware of it happening there. Slavery is a pandemic that
affects us all yet goes unnoticed. There are twenty-seven million people enslaved in the world
today (Lisa Kristine), yet no one realizes how big of a problem slavery is. That is more than the
population of New York (the most populous state in the United States). How do people not know
about this? How is this hidden from society? Slavery is happening and it is happening now.
When people hear the overwhelming number of twenty-seven million people, they tend to think
that it would be impossible to combat slavery, but that is where they are wrong.
One of the easiest solutions to combat slavery would be to better educate people on what
to do in the event of encountering someone who has been trafficked. Biles and Soodalter talk
about some of the main people that should be informed on how to help are police, fire fighters,
nurses, and even mailmen. There are multiple benefits to this idea. On the surface there is a
benefit of police, nurses, firefighters, etc. learning how to help a slavery victim in need and how
to save them from their situation. This could cause the victim to be removed from the situation
faster and receive better care/rehabilitation as they relearn how to live. This also, however,
doubles as a way to gain publicity. If the government spent money and time on teaching first
responders about how to help someone from slavery, news stations would then start covering the
changes with the first responders’ training, causing slavery to become a more well-known issue
in America. This will cause more people to act and stand up for people who are enslaved.
The great aspect of this solution is the fact it is a very doable solution. It’s not too
expensive or time consuming, and it helps people become more aware of their surroundings and
check on their neighbors a little more. The main downside would be that this isn’t a scale tipping
solution. Only people who happen to be watching the news at what would probably not be the
busiest hour would be exposed to the fact that slavery still exists in the world today. This would
be a perfect solution if it were possible to do it on a bigger scale; still, even if this only helps a
small percentage of people enslaved, it is better than nothing.
A way to improve Biles and Soodalter’s idea would be to have the news stations live
stream the training. This way, anyone watching the news would also have access to be trained in
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how to help people being trafficked. The more people who are informed of the warning signs of
human trafficking, the easier it will be for common people to find and report slavery that
otherwise appears to blend in with everyone else. One example of this happening was a girl
named Maria. Maria was promised a better life in America by Sandra Bearden. She was then
smuggled from Mexico to Texas. Little did she know that while she was in Texas, she would be
beaten and starved just moments from death by Bearden. The only reason that Maria escaped
was because of a neighbor on his roof that saw her chained to a fence. Because the neighbor saw
the signs of abuse, he was able to report Sandra to the authorities, saving this child’s life. If
people had the opportunity to be educated on the warning signs, more people like Maria could be
saved.
If we were to implement the live stream how to help someone who is being human
trafficked, I do believe it would work. As long as people are exposed to what is happening, they
will be more likely to do something about it. I don’t, however, think it will end slavery. I believe
it would make an impact, which in this case, is all you can really ask for. In my pessimistic
opinion, I believe there is nothing we could do to completely eradicate slavery. Bad people will
always exist everywhere. However, I believe this plan would create the biggest impact to help
save thousands of people in slavery and help deter other people from owning slaves (which
sometimes could be just as important). Slavery is a special case in that even if you only end up
helping one person, that will make every ounce of effort worth it. Slavery is the most horrific
thing that can happen to a person, and we should do everything in our power to stop it, even if
that is just for one person.
If we could help these people, we should. This was a relatively inexpensive plan to help
save something as priceless as a human life. Being a slave is the cruelest life someone can have;
it is worse than death due to its gruesome and long-term nature. “The national success rate in
solving murder cases is about 70 percent… according to the U.S. government’s own numbers,
the annual percentage of trafficking and slavery cases solved is less than 1 percent” (Biles and
Soodalter,7). Why is it that only one percent of cases are solved? There are so many murder
mystery podcasts yet there are only a few about people abducted into slavery. The murder cases
being solved can’t bring back the victim. We could bring back the slavery victims. This is why
we should help them and help reduce this pandemic.
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Works Cited
Kristine, Lisa “Photos That Bear Witness to Modern Day Slavery”, YouTube, uploaded by Ted,
28, September 2012
Bales, Kevin. The Slave next Door : Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. Berkeley
:University of California Press, 2009