The common misconception of human and sex trafficking is that it doesn’t exist in the United States, when the reality is that more than 50,000 women and children are trafficked annually for labor and sex. When doing research for this project, I stumbled across the story of Chong Kim, an American citizen who was bought and sold right within our borders. Chong was 19 at the time when she met a young man from the military who convinced her to go to Florida with him. They never went to Florida. Instead they arrived at an abandoned warehouse in Oklahoma where he burned her identification papers. After Kim narrowly escaped, she was caught and sold to someone in Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, she and 40 to 50 other girls were transported from location to location. Most of the girls were younger than 16 years old and spoke little English. The girls also lived in miserable conditions. Her captors were ruthless and beat or even shot girls who got sick or didn’t move fast enough. Chong begged for them to kill her but they wouldn’t. That is when she decided the only way to escape was to become one of them. She convinced one of her owners that she was genuinely interested in becoming a trafficker. Once she gained his trust, she was able to escape.
Chong spent four years living as a sex slave, and other girls live many more as slaves. There is little hope for these girls because they are treated like animals- once they have no more use for their captors they can be killed. Chong now travels around the country speaking out and raising awareness about sex trafficking. When Chong was a sex slave, her customers weren’t random foreign men, they were every day American men- lawyers, business men, local officials. These are the people perpetuating the industry, and Chong hopes that she can help put a stop to these appalling practices.
In Las Vegas, she and 40 to 50 other girls were transported from location to location. Most of the girls were younger than 16 years old and spoke little English. The girls also lived in miserable conditions. Her captors were ruthless and beat or even shot girls who got sick or didn’t move fast enough. Chong begged for them to kill her but they wouldn’t. That is when she decided the only way to escape was to become one of them. She convinced one of her owners that she was genuinely interested in becoming a trafficker. Once she gained his trust, she was able to escape.
Chong spent four years living as a sex slave, and other girls live many more as slaves. There is little hope for these girls because they are treated like animals- once they have no more use for their captors they can be killed. Chong now travels around the country speaking out and raising awareness about sex trafficking. When Chong was a sex slave, her customers weren’t random foreign men, they were every day American men- lawyers, business men, local officials. These are the people perpetuating the industry, and Chong hopes that she can help put a stop to these appalling practices.