Ohio is the nation’s seventh largest state by population, but it’s one of only seven states without a distinct anti-human trafficking law. This loophole has prevented police and prosecutors in the Buckeye state from going after trafficking perpetrators at a time when incidents of trafficking appear to be on the rise within the state (and in the rest of the nation).

That might change, if legislation now pending in the Ohio General Assembly passes. Toledo State Sen. Theresa Fedor, a Democrat, and State Sen. Tim Grindell from the Cleveland area (and a Republican), are jointly sponsoring a bill that would make human trafficking a second-degree felony.

The bi-partisan sponsorship is important because the Ohio Senate is firmly controlled by the GOP. But there’s also symbolic value in that Sen. Fedor, a long-time champion of strong anti-trafficking laws, has been joined by a leader from the Republican side of the aisle — an echo back to the bi-partisan effort to abolish slavery in the United States at the end of the Civil War.

People who are so inclined may contact their Ohio state senators and request that they support the legislation, known as Substitute SB235. Right now, the bill resides in Sen. Grindell’s committee; a public hearing is scheduled on Wednesday, March 17.

If you want to take action to help eliminate the modern-day slave trade in human beings, this is a good place to start.

Don’t know who your state senator is? Click on this link and find his or her name and contact information. Then email or send a statement of support for the legislation, using language similar to this:

Dear Senator (name):

I write to express my strong support for passage of Substitute SB 235, introduced jointly by Senators Fedor and Grindell. This bill would make trafficking in persons a second degree felony in Ohio. The bill currently is in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice.

As recent studies of Ohio law regarding trafficking by both Attorney General Cordray and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center have shown, human trafficking is present in the state, but the lack of a strong anti-trafficking statute in Ohio has made it difficult, if not impossible, to successfully prosecute traffickers.  SB235, we believe, will address this legal loophole and enable Ohio to join 42 other states that have strong, effective anti-trafficking laws on the books.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the legislation.

Sincerely,

[sign your name]

The keynote speaker for the institute will be Dr. Claude Clegg, professor of history at Indiana University.  The purpose of the institute is to prepare teachers to prepare their students to tour the Without Sanctuary exhibition.  There is no charge for this institute.  Educators can earn professional development hours or college credit (for an extra fee) for attending.  (continental breakfast included).

Dina Bailey & Katie Johnson from the NURFC
“Living Without Sanctuary: Interpreting the Lynching Era” (more…)

Ohio Senators Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Tim Grendell (R-Chesterland) have introduced legislation that would make human trafficking in Ohio a second-degree felony.  A bi-partisan group of twenty-six senators have co-sponsored the legislation.

Fedor’s office noted that Ohio is one of only seven states lacking felony-level language for human trafficking in-line with federal standards.

“Ohio needs legislation that will attack human trafficking criminal enterprises and put them away for a very long time,”Senator Fedor said. “Children are trafficked within Ohio’s borders every year because the traffickers know our laws are weak.  It is about time Ohio joined the 43 other states with human trafficking laws on the books and let traffickers know – our children are not for sale.”

The bill comes on the heels of a report by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, of which Senator Fedor is vice-chairwoman. The report found that over one thousand children are trafficked in Ohio each year, while several thousand more are considered to be at risk.

“Ohio’s Criminal Justice system needs a new tool to fight the growing travesty of human trafficking in our great State. We can not sit by while hundreds of people are victimized every year by what equates to modern day slavery,” said Senator Grendell, the joint sponsor who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Here’s a copy of the legislation.

A San Diego Union Tribune columnist, Michael Stetz, explores the confounding question of how it is that one of the nation’s top academic institutions can have among its students people who are so stone deaf to history that they can’t even grasp the frightful symbolism of a noose.  Here’s an earlier blog on the incident.

On such noose was found in UCSD’s main library last week, and the student who left it there, writing anonymously to the school paper, said the connotation of it as a symbol of hate never occurred to her. Which others find unbelievable.  “Nooses are regularly left as icons of intimidation,” Stetz quoted Jonathan Markovitz, a UCSD graduate and author of the book, “Legacies of Lynching: Racial Violence and Memory.” “They are the single most vivid symbol of racial terrorism and oppression, as they not only invoke but celebrate the power of the mob.”

The column goes on to offer the comments of Freedom Center CEO Don Murphy, a UCSD grad who happened to be on campus last weekend to make a presentation on Black History Month.  Stetz quotes Murphy on what he thinks is the cause of the historical ignorance:  serious gaps in education about our national past.

All of which underscores the relevance of the Freedom Center’s current exhibition about lynching, “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.”  Perhaps, if it could be arranged, UCSD could bring the exhibit to campus and help its bright, eager students learn something about a dark chapter of American history.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is seeking nominations for induction into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame.  As many as 10 nominees can be chosen.

Nominations are due by May 31, and the induction ceremony is slated for October 14 in Columbus.  More information and a nomination form are available here.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission Hall of Fame was created in 2009 through the collaborative efforts of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission,Honda of America Mfg., Inc., Wright State University and the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Students at the University of California-San Diego are aggressively protesting a series of racially charged campus incidents — including the display of a noose in the school’s main library– that has many observers questioning the school’s commitment to racial justice.  For a time, protesters took over UCSD’s Chancellor’s office.

Among those appealing for calm was Freedom Center CEO and President Don Murphy, who was at his alma mater for a speaking appearance.

The incident in California reflects just the kind of racial insensitivity that is explored in the Freedom Center’s current exhibition, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. It’s clear from new media accounts of the UCSD situation that the display of a noose, while considered innocuous by many, is for many others — especially African Americans — as a racially motivated hate crime.

What’s your opinion?  What should UCSD’s Administration do to address the incident?  Post your comments on the Freedom Blog.

Map of Ohio

A few weeks ago, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray released a report demonstrating that there was human trafficking in the state, and he even had numbers to prove the point.

There were, the report said, 3,437 foreign born persons in Ohio who may be at-risk for both labor and/or sex trafficking, 783 of which are estimated to be trafficked into the labor or sex trade in Ohio.

Furthermore, Cordray’s report added, of American born youth in Ohio, 2,879 are at-risk for sex trafficking, and another 1,078 youth have been trafficked into the sex trade over the course of a year.

These are shocking numbers, even in a state with a population of 11 million.  The news media and bloggers soon were repeating these numbers all over the Internet as proof positive that Ohio — staid, old, Midwestern backbone of American values Ohio — was the epicenter of human trafficking in the United States.

Is that a fair description?  Is it even accurate?

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Due to the high volume of phone calls & e-mails received concerning the “Playground” screening the NURFC asks for you to send an RSVP to FreedomCenterRSVP@gmail.com to reserve your seat. We have a 300 seat theater and expect this FREE screening to fill up quickly.

The Freedom Center will host a free screening of “Playground,” the shocking undercover documentary film on sex trafficking in America.

The 1 hour-25-minute film will be shown at 6 p.m. on March 11 in the Harriet Tubman Theater.  The screening is free and open to the public, but seating is limited to the first 300 viewers.

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L.A. Reid

Influential music executive and Cincinnati native Antonio “L.A.” Reid will be at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on Sunday, February 21, to participate in a discussion on how his entrepreneurial success is connected to the African American rise from slavery to freedom.  His appearance, at 1:30 in the Harriet Tubman Theater, is free and open to the public.

Forgoing the typical speech format, Reid will engage in a discussion with 101.1 The WIZ’s Jade West, and then answer questions from the audience.  Seating is limited to 300, and reservations are required.  To RSVP send an e-mail to FreedomCenterRSVP@gmail.com.

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The DCAF report, from which the previous entries in this series of blog posts was drawn, does not specifically assess U.S. law enforcement and criminal justice efforts to combat human trafficking.  But much of its observations about the status of anti-trafficking efforts worldwide apply to our country, both in terms of progress being made as well as nagging issues that are preventing a more effective response.

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Allison Jernow, a former Justic Department prosecutor and now senior legal officer at the International Commission of Jurists, provides this perspective on human trafficking: “Whatever else you can say about human trafficking,” she writes in a chapter in the DCAF report, ” it is a real and tangible violation of an individual’s rights.”

But for human trafficking victims, legal protections of those rights remain far from assured, leaving many men, women and children as legal lost souls — citizens that no one seems to want, and whose access to basic human rights is often stymied.

This is the ultimate devastation of contemporary slavery:  its victims are left struggling to become members of society, months and even years after their actual experience with slavery has ended.  “The mistreatment of (human trafficking) victims, especially in destination countries, is widespread and well-documented,” the DCAF report explains.  “Despite any number of international protocols to address trafficking victims and look after their well-being, actual implementation falls well short of adequate protection.”

As the DCAF report makes clear, human trafficking — the popular term for the contemporary slave trade — is flourishing across the globe, driven in equal parts by criminal enterprise and economic desperation. As it grows and spills across national borders, trafficking is forcing governments — often reluctantly — to deal with psychologically and emotionally scarred (and often physically abused) individuals suddenly dropped in their midst.

While some progress is evident, the DCAF report concludes that legal protections that safeguard the individual rights of trafficking victims remains a distant goal.

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The Boston Globe has a nice feature story on Underground Railroad historic sites in New England, preceded by a wonderful description of what the Underground Railroad was — and was not.

The phrase that stands out:  “lifeline to liberty.”