On Tuesday, April 9, at 5:30 p.m. Saint Xavier University hosted a panel discussion on Human Trafficking that was held on camps in McGuire Hall.
Saint Xavier University invited students and the community to attend the panel discussion “Stolen People, Stolen Dreams: Get the Facts on Human Trafficking” to talk about the epidemic that is not just an issue in foreign countries but also in the communities that surround us.
This discussion featured the Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Sister Carol Mucha, R.S.M., of SXU’s Office for Mission and Heritage, Selah Freedom National Director of Advocacy and Awareness Paula Meyer Besler, and Pastor Esther Holiday of the House of Glory for all Nations Church.
Each speaker spoke for ten minutes after being introduced, which was then followed by a question and answer session.
All of these speakers told the audience what they believed people needed to know about human trafficking. Hearing this directly from leaders fighting the epidemic helped people get a better grasp of the issue with the help from different perspectives that the guest speakers gave.
One of the guest speakers also included a survivor of human trafficking.
The first guest speaker was Tom Dart, the Cook County Sheriff. He discussed how Human Sex Trafficking is all around us and is often times misunderstood by so many due to how it is portrayed in the movies.
Sex trafficking does happen in foreign countries, and Dart and his coworkers have made arrests off of that, but the majority of the tracking that is taking place is done to local community members by local community members.
Dart wanted to become Sheriff to change the way that the system dealt with prostitution. He would often see women get picked up and thrown in jail, then bailed out and go right back to what they were doing before. They would bring them in not to arrest them, but to put them into programs to help them.
As he was doing this, he realized that the way prostitution used to be had quickly evolved and started to become easier due to the use of the internet.
People would place ads on the internet to trick young women and children into coming. Dart mentioned there were instances where he would put these types of ads up as a trap. He and the people he worked with would catch the sex traffickers and help the victims that were being trafficked.
Dart described traffickers and pimps as, “Horrible people. They will get their claws into young women who have different issues and they’ll groom them.”
The second speaker was Sister Carol Mucha, R.S.M., of SXU’s Office for Mission and Heritage.
Sister Carol Mucha begin by thanking Professor Charlene Bermele for hosting this discussion to talk about, “This travesty, this modern day slavery, as we call trafficking.”
Her focus was on what the Sisters of Mercy are doing, and the ways they are cooperating with the many people who are striving to eradicate or minimize the numbers of those who are subjected to this modern day slavery.
As a congregation, the Sisters of Mercy have organized into what is known as Mercy Global Action, which seeks to ensure the inherent dignity of every human being through a variety of strategies that they use.
The Sisters of Mercy have interactive webinars that are frequently used to hold discussions, and to plan regarding new information that happens with this topic.
They learn the importance of taking pictures in a variety of hotel rooms that they stay at so they can be sent to a common data center and if a victim or person suspects trafficking and sends a picture in it helps the people receiving the photos narrow down where they are at.
The third speaker was Selah Freedom, the National Director of Advocacy and Awareness Paula Meyer Besler.
The Selah Freedom has had a great partnership with the Cook County’s Sheriff department because of Sheriff Dart.
Besides collaborating with all the other organizations across the country, Selah Freedom also does boots on the ground work in four areas to help survivors.
Paula Meyer Besler discussed how Selah Freedom is an organization that is solely based on the trafficking of American girls and boys within the borders of the United States.
“It is happening in every zip code, in every backyard, and for a lot of people it is a tough conversation to have and a lot of people don’t like to have it. We need to bring awareness that it is happening everywhere across every socioeconomic level and neighborhood,” stated Paula Meyer Besler during her discussion.
They have homes for survivors and an assistant home for women who just come off of the streets. She wants people to make note that it is very important for residents that housing is separate, because they are at a different place in their journey.
Paula Meyer Besler said that she has seen first-hand that these homes have helped survivors and that, “The hope and the resiliency of the human spirit is palpable.”
The fourth and final speaker was Pastor Esther Holiday of the House of Glory for all Nations Church.
Pastor Esther is the founder of Love Outreach Center and is a survivor of human trafficking. She has devoted her life to helping other survivors of sex trafficking.
She hopes that the Walk for Love event will raise money for the organization as well as bring awareness to human trafficking.
Pastor Esther goes around and makes people aware of sex trafficking that is happening all around.
She stated in her discussion that, “I don’t want to frighten you but you need to be aware.”
The Sisters of Mercy have an extended history of being devoted to spirituality, community, service and social justice.
They have worked heartily to try to eliminate the widespread refusal of human rights, poverty, the mistreatment of immigrants, the abuse of children, as well as the lack of harmony among people and nations.
The University encourages students to spread awareness on social issues that are plaguing the world and are taking place just in our backyards.
SXU is pleased with its long standing Mercy heritage, and is dedicated to organizing events similar to this one to help raise awareness on the ways the community can improve not only the surrounding communities, but the world in which they live in.
Kylee Rus
News Reporter