Modern Day Slavery | Modern Day Slavery

Slavery did not only exist before it was abolished but also after. Mark Twain satirizes slavery in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which can be related to modern day slavery. Twain shows that even white people such as Miss Watson and Aunt Sally Phelps show no concern of the injustice of a runaway slave, Jim. Although, Huck is one person that is willing to be Jim's friend. He is willing to help a black slave become free. As slavery is still increasing today many concerns of slavery are those of child labor and sexual abuse.

"Child labor is a major threat to the health of children in the United States" (Landrigan). While there are legal and illegal forms of labor there are both positive and negative aspects. As a positive aspect a child with an odd job is learning the meaning of money, getting a sense of discipline and seeing valuable role models (Landrigan). Many children are either killed or severely injured while working. The two most hazardous areas are agriculture and newspaper delivery (Landrigan). In one incident a child was crossing the street on his bicycle while delivering newspapers, was hit by a van and killed. "Child labor laws don't apply to news carriers because they are considered to be independent contractors" (Landrigan). "Yet world leaders have been either unable or unwilling to focus on the issue, leaving aid agencies and advocacy groups fighting a losing battle against what many consider to be the greatest threat to future international liberty" (Riley).

The women and children of forced labor and sexual abuse most of the time are doing it for their families. They are also looking for "food, shelter, clothing and other basic needs" (Uhlman). One girl, Siri, was sold to a broker when she was thirteen years old. Her parents thought that she would be getting a good job in the city. Siri's job ended up as becoming a prostitute. With Siri's parents being poor they had a benefit of selling their daughter "for the family to save itself from financial hardship" ("Siri"). Siri saw this as benefiting her family. After a year she told Kevin Bales, the Free Slaves President, that she would stay and "do what her family wants her to do until the brothel kicks her out" ("Siri"). While Siri is trying to make her family happy others are "exchanging sex for money or drugs, more expensive clothes and other consumer goods" (Uhlman).

Many people who are forced into labor or sexually abused are doing it for their families and survival. The slave owners have no concern with the feelings of the slave or their lives. As people like Kevin Bales try to get the government to help out with what is going on in their own country, slavery is just increasing by the minute. According to Richard J. Estes, "Between 300,000 and 400,000 children in the United States are victims of prostitution, pornography, and other forms of commercial sex" (Uhlman). Hopefully we will be seeing a decrease in modern day slavery in the future.

Nilesh Ram