The $1 bond

During the month where we celebrate the freedom of enslaved people, I can’t help but pose the question, “Are we really free?” 

You can’t have the conversation about sex trafficking without including the intersectionality of a lot of systems that the kids we serve come into contact with. The odds are often stacked against them. They encounter epigenetics and generational trauma, racism, both individual and systemic, lack of resources, poverty, lack of education, addiction, and, in a lot of cases, for black and brown children, adultification bias. Adultification is a term often applied to black children and used to describe how biases lead to perceptions of black children being more “adult-like,” which almost always results in them being discriminated against. 

I have a client, *Hope, who I first encountered at a recovery. She was the sweetest 15-year-old girl, who was so excited to have an advocate. Someone to be on her side. Hope was initially introduced to “the life” in another state at age 13 by an older male who was a family friend. When she was moved down to Dallas with the hope of having a better life, she was surprised to find herself back in a similar situation. But this time, with juvenile detention on her back. 

Often, we see that our clients leave “the life” but live a life of poverty afterward. They reach out to different resources, but in most cases, they need a guardian to assist. They need work permits to get their own job to make legit money. Unfortunately, Hope found herself back in “the life.” She was AWOL for months, only to be recovered in a major city. Hope had been trafficked by *4 individuals through *15 major cities across the US and was recovered by Homeland Security *6 states over. Hope’s body was being advertised on the internet for commercial sex to make these adults money. The worst part is that these adults have not been charged with trafficking yet, and two of them were released on a $1 bond. 

What does this say to our black children? That your body is worth nothing more than a $1 bond? That you hold no value aside from what your body can do? That you deserve whatever happens to you if you run away? It shows our black children, time and time again, that they do not matter. That the courts aren’t seeing them as children, but grown consenting adults, and that’s simply just not true. 

As we prepare to celebrate Juneteenth, the day that acknowledges the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX, I can’t help but wonder if this is what freedom looked like to our ancestors who aren’t too far removed. 

With that, I say to you, black child, you matter. You are worth more than this country, this world can give to you. You are beautiful, you are smart, your sun-kissed skin radiates the reflection of the sun. You deserve to enjoy your childhood and to be seen as such. You deserve to play without fear. You deserve to be advocated for. Your strength is generational. Your endurance has been passed down from ancestors who never thought they’d see a day when their lineage is truly FREE. We will continue to fight for you, for your freedom. We love you, black child.

*To preserve and protect the identities and dignity of the young people we serve, Traffick911 may substitute certain details and will always utilize pseudonyms.